Richness of Capability - Um, why do I care???

In my post on "Richness of Capability" I realized that I perhaps went a bit out there without explaining why I'm curious about it. Well imagine...

• If we had a way to measure when a foundational technology will deliver way more than it promises?
• If we had a way to communicate and measure when an investment in capability will multiply compound on existing processes?

That's why I'm curious. I also don't think the topic hasn't been looked at, I probably just don't know where the research is or how it's already measured. Topics to consider looking for these answers include innovation, enterprise architecture and information theory. More to come...