Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T19:34:56.244Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The dynamics of innovation: on the multiplicity of the new

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Helga Nowotny
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Innovation has become a leading slogan for world economies, politicians and science policy-makers alike. It is the driving force of Western consumer societies, which have come to expect the new to be replaced by the newest. However, in contrast to mere fads and fashions, the consequences of relentless innovation are real. They manifest themselves in changes in lifestyle, in the ways societies function and in profound changes in outlook and perception. This paper will ask how innovation became so central and which mechanisms sustain it in science and technology, art and individual life. One consequence to be further explored is the relative loss in importance of the individual creative act, with implications on how we view creativity, knowledge production and even the concept of the individual. Another question to be raised is that of the multiplicity of the new: despite the seeming diversity and multiplicity of option, is there also convergence or a process of synchronization at work?

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , July 1995 , pp. 209 - 219
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Schumpeter, J. (1926) Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Enntwicklung. 2. Aufl. Wien-München.Google Scholar
2.Fleck, L. (1980/1935) Entstehung und Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Tatsache. Einführung in die Lehre vom Denkstil und Denkkollektiv. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a.M.Google Scholar
3.Williams, R. (1993) Innovationen. Über den Prozeßcharakter von Literatur und Kultur, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt a.M.Google Scholar
4.Jacob, F. (1981) Le jeu des possibles, Essai sur la diversité du vivant, Fayard, Paris.Google Scholar
5.Luhmann, N. (1987) Paradigmawechsel in der Systemtheorie. Ein Paradigma für den Fortschritt? In R. Herzog and R. Koselleck (Hrsg.) Epochenschwelle und Epochenbewußtsein, Fink, München, pp. 305–322.Google Scholar
6.Schaffer, S. (1994) Making up discovery. In Boden, Margaret A. (Ed) Dimensions of Creativity, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 13–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Roy, R. (1988) HTSC: restoring scientific and policy perspective. In Burnham, C. G. and Kane, R. D. (Eds) World Congress on Superconductivity. 8, Singapore, New Jersey, Hong Kong, pp 27–39.Google Scholar
8.Reich, R. B. (1991) The Work of Nations. Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism, Alfred Knopf, New York.Google Scholar
9.Steiner, G. (1989) Real Presence: Is There Anything In What We say? Faber and Faber, London.Google Scholar
10.Rheinberger, H.-J. (1994) All That Gives Rise To An Inscription In General. To be published.Google Scholar
11.Hacking, I. (1992) The self-vindication of the laboratory sciences. In Pickering, A. (Ed) Science as Practice and Culture, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 29–64.Google Scholar
12.Groys, B. (1992) Über das Neue. Versuche einer Kulturökonomie, Hanser, München.Google Scholar
13.Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P. and Trow, M. (1994) The New Production of Knowledge. The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies, Sage, London.Google Scholar
14.Calvino, I. (1992) Six Memos for the Next Milennium. Jonathan Cape, London.Google Scholar
15.Hannerz, U. (1992) Cultural Complexity. Studies in the Social Organization of Meaning. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
16.Lowenhaupt, A. Tsing (1993) In the Realm of the Diamond Queen. Princeton University Press, Princeton. This paper is based on the Inaugural Lecture 1994/5 held at Collegium Budapest/Institute for Advanced Study.Google Scholar