We trace two streams of development from their origin,

• information-technological developments emanating from the vision of Doug Engelbart

• systems-scientific developments emanating from the vision of Erich Jantsch

and see them merge together in our own time, and not the least at ITBA. We see that when the insights and techniques that resulted from those two streams are put together, what naturally emerges is a need and a possibility for a radical restructuring of our various organizations, offering Industrial Revolution–like improvements in efficacy of human work.

Systemic innovation is shown to be the innovation for the 21st century. In an academic context it is shown to be a paradigm, inviting a larger societal Renaissance-like change. In the context of contemporary issues, systemic innovation is shown to be needed to make the difference between an unsustainable course of evolution and universal thriving.