Education for Innovation and Independent Learning (eBook)

Ronaldo Mota, David Scott (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2014 | 1. Auflage
178 Seiten
Elsevier Science (Verlag)
978-0-12-800991-8 (ISBN)

Infos

Our principal concern in this book is to understand three important ideas: learning, technology and innovation, and to examine these ideas and the relationships between them in situ; that is, we examine a number of cases of learning technologies in action in two countries, England and Brazil. The purpose of our study is to provide an explanation of the means to, and constraints on, improvements to educational policies and practices, with particular reference to innovation. We have a plethora of theoretical models that in attempting to deal with causal relations usually come to the conclusion that there are socio-economic-cultural constraints, but these observations largely remain at an abstract level and/or come to very general conclusions that are not of particular help to practitioners in the field. These issues can only be properly addressed after examining the empirical reality and having a spectrum of cases to analyze. By combining the theoretical and the practical, our aim is to explain how and under what conditions new modes of learning can be put into practice successfully and sustainably, in order for the learner to develop innovatory skills and dispositions for work and in the life course.

Retired Full Professor at the Physics Department from Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Researcher at CNPq in Physics, and Innovation and Educational Consultant. Bachelor in Physics from Universidade de São Paulo, Master in Sciences from Universidade Federal da Bahia, Doctor in Sciences from Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, and Postdoctoral Training at the University of British Columbia-Canada and at the University of Utah-USA. The focus of the career in Physics has been on the Modelling and Simulation of Material Sciences and Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes. In Education and Innovation, the main subjects are: Innovation Management, New Technologies Applied to Education and Independent Learning in Higher education. Formerly, he was National Secretary for Technological Development and Innovation at the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, National Secretary for Higher Education, National Secretary for Distance Education and Acting Minister at the Brazilian Ministry of Education. President of the Administration Board of Neoprospecta-Innovation Company, and Founder and Special Advisor of the British enterprise EdUKationBR. He holds the title of 'Comendador Grã-Cruz' of the National Order of Scientific Merit, awarded by the Brazilian President of Republic and, until recently, Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Education of the University of London (Anísio Teixeira/Chair).

Textauszug

Chapter 3

Innovation

In this chapter, we discuss the concept of innovation thoroughly, considering that it is a key concept in the formation of modern societies. In the middle ages, innovation meant novelty arising from human creativity, whereas today it is emblematic of modern societies and directly associated with the possibility of sustainable economic and social development. Innovation is becoming more central in the knowledge-development process; broader in scope, it is both an end-product and a stimulant for knowledge in its own right. More recently, a new wave of innovation approaches such as open innovation, democratizing innovation, creative economies and organizational and marketing innovation have been introduced. Many of these are associated with new sites of knowledge production such as workplaces and homes, rather than traditional research laboratories and universities. The Brazilian and British innovation scenarios are presented and discussed.

Keywords

Innovation; Innovation in Brazil; Innovation in England; Knowledge Development; Technological Innovation

It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new. This coolness arises partly from fear of the opponents, who have the laws on their side, and partly from the incredulity of men, who do not readily believe in new things until they have had a long experience of them.

(Niccolò Machiavelli, 1953)1

In general, innovation can be assumed to have occurred when knowledge is successfully introduced into, and valued by, organizations in such a way that it is formally organized, managed, realized and implemented in practice. In this chapter, we explore the concept of innovation and identify connections, relations and links between it and sustainability and knowledge-development. We suggest that the best way to connect economic development with sustainable social development is by adopting innovatory strategies. What this implies is a reworking of the traditional relationship between science, technology and innovation, so that rather than these three concepts being understood as linear in form and unidirectional, innovation now becomes more central, broader in concept and has the potentiality to feedback to the beginning of the knowledge creation process. We also review the various innovatory strategies adopted by Brazil and England.

3.1 The Concept of Innovation

Innovation and innovatory practices are becoming more important in modern societies (Mota, 2009a, 2011). The concept and practice have changed over time; in the middle ages, the term was more often associated with novelty, arising from human creativity; whereas today it is more directly connected to the possibility of sustainable economic and social development. For example, Eugene Grasset (see Figure 3.1) suggests that innovation is central to our understanding of change processes, being both conserving and modifying.

Figure 3.1 Work by Eugène Grasset/2012, translated from Methode de Composition Ornamentale.

As the concept is now understood, it is much broader than simply technological innovation, although technology continues to be a significant driver of change, especially in the last two centuries. Godin (2008) understands innovation dialectically, so that events and happenings in the world give rise to new categories. These in turn contribute to, and allow material and social changes in the world, which again lead to new meanings being given to concepts such as innovation. During the Renaissance, artisans accepted that imitation was a beneficial practice, closely associated with the idea of novelty-innovation, and as being central to the notion of invention itself. For Newman (1989), this was art imitating nature, as the alchemists claimed. Imitation was considered at that time as requiring work, experimentation, judgement and imagination. By the beginning of the industrial revolution in England, imitation was associated with invention because it resulted in the production of new commodities, introducing not only the real possibility of meeting demand by diffusion and scale, but, in doing so, improving quality and design. As a result, innovation by imitation, although not primary, became associated with derivative or incremental innovation. The concept and the practice had moved on from mere copying.

Differences between discovery and invention have always been central to the meaning that a society gives to the idea of innovation. Discovery usually refers to a process of finding out things, whilst invention is more often associated with synthesizing, combining or making new things, such as objects, processes or new theories. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, invention, initially associated with science, but also with imagination in literature and the visual arts, became increasingly identified with mechanical or technological invention (cf. Engell, 1981). However, during the twentieth century, with its emphasis on commodification, ownership and utilitarian valuing, technological innovation has become synonymous with invention, and also very often with innovation.

The term “innovation”, although old (for instance, it is cited by Machiavelli in The Prince (1513) and by F. Bacon in Of Innovations (1625)1), was rarely used before the twentieth century. In contrast, in the last century there were a series of debates about innovation. Joseph Schumpeter wrote extensively about innovation in the first half of the last century, and he was probably the most influential thinker on innovation and the first economist to include the subject within a theory of economic development. Schumpeter (1961) argued that capitalism is a permanent creative-destructive system and innovation is the cause of this phenomenon. Innovation, he suggested, was essential for competitive survival. Nations, regions and enterprises are left behind when they are not as innovative as their competitors, resulting in increasing disparity in wealth between rich and poor countries. However, Schumpeter also argued that, while innovation was creative and beneficial, allowing for the rise of new industries, and generating wealth and jobs, it could also destroy established businesses and many products, and even produce higher unemployment.

Schumpeter (1961) identified five types of innovation. The first was the introduction of a new product, and the second was a new method of production. The third was the development of a new market. His fourth type of innovation referred to new sources of raw materials. Finally, he suggested that it might also result in new forms of organization. Schumpeter (1939: 128) distinguished between innovation and invention by arguing that: “innovation is possible without invention and invention does not necessarily induce innovation”, only when commercialized. Innovation occurs in products, and new functionalities of previously existing products, services, and operational processes. These processes might include equipment and machinery, as products, and logistics in the form of providers’ services. Innovation can be either radical or incremental. In general, it is radical when the nature of the product, service or process changes. However, most innovations are thought of as incremental when the improvements come from the application of new ideas to existing products and services, or even adjustments to organizational processes (Dodgson and Gann, 2010). Schumpeter also pointed to the inherent risks in innovatory practices, the argument being that an absence of risk and uncertainty would provide little advantage over competitors if everyone could innovate without them.

During the second half of the last century a number of authors (for example, Deutsch et al., 1986; Mulgan et al., 2007) introduced a broader understanding of innovation including that of social innovation, meaning either major advances in the social sciences, policy reforms for the betterment of society, or solutions to social problems. More recently, a new wave of innovatory approaches includes original concepts like open innovation, democratizing innovation, creative economies; and areas not usually thought of as being innovatory such as organizational and marketing. All of these relate to the idea that innovation, both etymologically and practically, is now multiply-sourced, and therefore does not just emerge from the traditional research laboratories and universities.

This constitutes a new and different form of knowledge-construction. Gibbons et al. (1994) characterized the new and old types of knowledge-development as two modes: disciplinary forms of knowledge normally produced by the academy and research laboratories, and trans-disciplinary forms of knowledge normally produced outside them. Mode One knowledge is linear, causal, cumulative, disciplinary, reductionist and has significant status in society. This has, they claim, been challenged by Mode Two forms of knowledge, where technology is understood as autonomous and able to develop outside of the academy, where it is trans-disciplinary, problem-solving, workplace-based, synoptic rather than reductionist, heterarchical and...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.1.2014
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Schulbuch / Wörterbuch ► Unterrichtsvorbereitung ► Unterrichts-Handreichungen
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Pädagogische Psychologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik
• ISBN-10: 0-12-800991-8 / 0128009918
• ISBN-13: 978-0-12-800991-8 / 9780128009918