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Cultural Aspects of Innovation, including ”grass-roots” innovations
Andrew JamisonAalborg University
NACI Workshop on Broad-based Innovations, Pretoria, South Africa, Feb 27, 2009
Based on:
By way of introduction...
A good technology, firmly related to human needs,
cannot be one that has a maximum productivity as its
supreme goal: it must rather, as in an organic system,
seek to provide the right quantity of the right quality at
the right time and the right place for the right purpose.
Lewis Mumford, 1961
The Cultures of Innovation
culture economic,commercial
bureaucratic, professional
civic, ”grass-roots”
relevant contexts
companies,business networks,markets
governments,nation-states, societies
movements,communities,regions
policyaims
entrepreneurship,competitiveness
construction, coordination
appropriation,cooperation
policyorientation
market-oriented expert-oriented change-oriented
Changing Modes of Knowledge Production
Industrial Military Commercial “Little Science” “Big Science” “Technoscience”
Mode 1 Mode 1½ Mode 2 Before WWII 1940s-1970s 1980s-
Form of Knowledge disciplinary multidisciplinary transdisciplinary
Organiza- individuals and R&D departments ad hoc projects andtional form research groups and institutes networks
Dominantvalues academic bureaucratic entrepreneurial
From Little Science to Big Science
change in size and scale
mission orientation, external control
university-government collaboration
bureaucratic norm, or value system
new role for the state: ”science policy”
appropriate technology/technology assessment
Critiques of Big Science in the 1960s
moral, or spiritual (e.g. Martin Luther King) against injustice,”poverty of the spirit” for a new morality
scientific, or ecological (e.g. Rachel Carson) against reductionism, ”the abuse of the planet” for an environmental science
humanist, or cultural (e.g. Lewis Mumford)against hubris, ”the myth of the machine” for an appropriate technology
Tvindmøllen 1977-1978
Nordic Folkcenter for Renewable Energy
An Appropriate TechnologyMovement in the 1970s
The New Alchemy Institute Ark
From Big Science to Technoscience
change in range and scope
market orientation, corporate control
university-industry collaboration
entrepreneurial norm, or value system
the state as strategist: innovation policy
from assessment to promotion: ”foresight”
The Age of Technoscience
A blurring of discursive boundaries between science (episteme) and technology (techne)
A trespassing of institutional borders between public and private, economic and academic
A mixing of skills and competencies across disciplines and societal domains
Contending Policy Strategies
The dominant , or hegemonic strategy (mode 2):
commercialization, entrepreneurship, transdisciplinarity
The residual, or traditionalist strategy (mode 1):
academicization, expertise, (multi)disciplinarity
An emerging, or sustainable strategy (mode 3):
appropriation, empowerment, interdisciplinarity
Transdisciplinarity, or ”mode 2”
”Knowledge which emerges from a particular
context of application with its own distinct
theoretical structures, research methods and
modes of practice but which may not be locatable
on the prevailing disciplinary map.”
Michael Gibbons et al, The New Production of Knowledge (1994)
The Tendency to Hubris
transgressing established forms of quality control ”a drift of epistemic criteria” (Elzinga)
transcending human limitations ”converging technologies” (bio, info, cogno, nano)
neglecting public participation and assessment lack of accountability and precaution
overemphasis on entrepreneurship propagation of competition rather than cooperation
The Forces of Habit(us)
Technoscience primarily seen as providing new opportunities for scientists and engineers
Taught by restructuring established scientific and engineering fields: multi- or ”subdisciplinarity”
Politics and the rest of society left largely outside of research and education: ”outsourcing” of ethics
A continuing belief in separating experts and their
knowledge from contexts of use
“A discipline is defined by possession of a collective capital
of specialized methods and concepts, mastery of which is
the tacit or implicit price of entry to the field. It produces a
‘historical transcendental,’ the disciplinary habitus, a
system of schemes of perception and appreciation (where
the incorporated discipline acts as a censorship).”
Pierre Bourdieu, Science of Science and Reflexivity (2004)
The Discipline as Habit(us)
The Need for a ”Mode 3”
At the discursive, or macro level Sustainable innovation, connecting technological
solutions to social and environmental problems
At the institutional, or meso level Responsible innovation, creating accountability
procedures for science and engineering
At the personal, or micro level Community-oriented innovation, fostering innovation
processes at the ”grass-roots”
A Hybrid Imagination
At the macro, or discursive level connecting innovation cultures, integrating ideas
At the meso, or institutional level making spaces for collective creativity
At the micro, or personal level combining identities and forms of competence
For example: Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva and Carlo Petrini at a Slow Food Cafe
The conflict over genetically engineered crops and
foods is not a conflict between ”culture” and
”science”. It is between two cultures of science:
one based on transparency, public accountability,
and responsibility toward the environment and
people and another based on profits and the lack
of transparency, accountability, and responsibility.
Stolen Harvest, 2000
Vandana Shiva on GMOs
For example:Fritjof Capra
• physicist-turned-environmentalist• author of many popular books• founder of Center for Ecoliteracy
“Since the outstanding
characteristic of the biosphere is
its inherent ability to sustain life,
a sustainable human community
must be designed in such a
manner that its technologies and
social institutions honor,
support, and cooperate with
nature's inherent ability to
sustain life.”
The Centre for Science and
Environment (CSE) is a public
interest research and advocacy
organisation based in New Delhi.
CSE researches into, lobbies for
and communicates the urgency of
development that is both
sustainable and equitable.
Anil Agarwal, the founder of CSE, shown at work with one of the six State
of India’s Environment reports that the centre has put out since the
1980s.
For example:
…and, not to forget, the new president!
Raising money through the Internet
Mixing old and new forms of communication
Applying techniques of social networking
Connecting people and cultures virtually
In short, making appropriate use of technology
In conclusion...
To counteract the dominance of the commercial
culture, we need policies that explicitly support:
the civic, ”not-for-profit” culture of innovation,
interdisciplinary educational programs,
mixing expertise and social responsibility,
creating sites for collective learning,
in short, fostering a hybrid imagination!