V nastoyashchee vremya nablyudaetsya povyshennoe vnimanie k protsessam perekhoda v shestoy tekhnologicheskiy uklad kak v plane uslozhneniya i razvitiya samoy tekhnosfery, tak i intensifikatsii informatsionnykh protsessov, soprovozhdayushchikh eto yavlenie. Sredi nikh vazhnoe mesto zanimayut kognitivnye tekhnologii i ne tol'ko kak sozdanie interfeysa mezhdu chelovekom i mashinoy, no i kak usilitel' ego intellektual'noy i intuitivnoy sfery. Protsessy generatsii novykh znaniy stanovyatsya dominiruyushchimi v razlichnykh sferakh deyatel'nosti cheloveka, a umenie konvertirovat' ikh v otkrytiya, izobreteniya, novye tekhnologii i programmnye produkty, informatsionnye sistemy, v intellektual'nuyu sobstvennost' - bazovym kvalifikatsionnym trebovaniem k spetsialistam. Problema novizny resheniy v sfere sozdaniya novykh tekhnicheskikh sistem, informatsionnykh produktov, tekhnologiy priobretaet osobuyu ostrotu v usloviyakh konkurentsii, obespecheniya intellektual'nogo prevoskhodstva v protsesse perekhoda obshchestva v sferu innovatsionnogo razvitiya. Nachal'nyy etap lyubogo proekta nazyvaetsya kontseptual'nym proektirovaniem. Rezul'tatom etoy stadii yavlyaetsya formulirovka trebovaniy dlya postanovki zadachi na proektirovanie novoy tekhnicheskoy ili lyuboy drugoy sistemy.