  We develop a model of innovation that enables us to trace the interplay among
three key dimensions of the innovation process: (i) demand of and (ii) supply
for innovation, and (iii) technological capabilities available to generate
innovation in the forms of products, processes, and services. Building on
triple helix research, we use entropy statistics to elaborate an indicator of
mutual information among these dimensions that can provide indication of
reduction of uncertainty. To do so, we focus on the medical context, where
uncertainty poses significant challenges to the governance of innovation. We
use the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of MEDLINE/PubMed to identify
publications classified within the categories "Diseases" (C), "Drugs and
Chemicals" (D), "Analytic, Diagnostic, and Therapeutic Techniques and
Equipment" (E) and use these as knowledge representations of demand, supply,
and technological capabilities, respectively. Three case-studies of medical
research areas are used as representative 'entry perspectives' of the medical
innovation process. These are: (i) human papilloma virus, (ii) RNA
interference, and (iii) magnetic resonance imaging. We find statistically
significant periods of synergy among demand, supply, and technological
capabilities (C-D-E) that point to three-dimensional interactions as a
fundamental perspective for the understanding and governance of the uncertainty
associated with medical innovation. Among the pairwise configurations in these
contexts, the demand-technological capabilities (C-E) provided the strongest
link, followed by the supply-demand (D-C) and the supply-technological
capabilities (D-E) channels.
