A Spatial Perspective of Innovation and Development: Innovation Hubs in Zambia and the UK

Abstract

The rapid expansion of hundreds of innovation hubs across Africa and Europe raises compelling questions about the relevance of this dynamic sector for development. To address this, our paper presents findings of how the social and economic context of hubs influences its members' construction of concepts of community, collaboration and development. The paper argues that what counts as innovation is often constructed in Western discourse and projected onto African realities. Doreen Massey's theory of space-making is used as a lens to analyse how different hubs produce distinct forms of collaboration and innovation for development. The aim of this paper is to explore alternative narratives of innovation hubs through a spatial perspective with the aim of revealing a multiplicity of forms for these hubs. It draws on findings from two innovation hubs in London and Lusaka respectively, using the methodology of multiple case studies. This article thus contributes firstly to the so far very limited empirical data on innovation hubs, and second, strengthens the theoretical framings of innovation for development which have so far emanated from a Western-centric empirical evidence base.

Empowerment in their hands: use of WhatsApp by women in Nigeria

“…While discussing innovation and development through the lens of the Capability Approach, Jimenez and Zheng (2017) presented how membership of a Zambian Tech Hub supported collaboration and learning, enhanced agency, encouraged a sense of community and promoted gender equality. These findings offer a broader view of the relationship between innovation and development than the narrower entrepreneurial focus that dominates most discourse on innovation.…”

Conceptualizing development in information and communication technology for development (ICT4D)

“…(p. 229) This comment is based on Massey (2005) who advances a conception of space "as the sphere in which distinct trajectories coexist; as the sphere therefore of coexisting heterogeneity" (p. 9). In other words, multiple development paths and heterogeneous possibilities coexist in different development contexts and should be recognized and respected (Jiménez & Zheng, 2017).…”

Decolonising Neo-Liberal Innovation: Using the Andean Philosophy of ‘Buen Vivir’ to Reimagine Innovation Hubs

“…Innovation hubs are places where technology entrepreneurs, experts and enthusiasts meet to collaborate on their latest apps, platforms and development projects [12]. The authors' prior experience of long-term research based in innovation hubs gave rise to our research interest in whether hubs in the global South were too closely modelled on the global North template of Silicon Valley start-up culture, and if so whether this might lead to a lost opportunity to nurture indigenous approaches to innovation, as well as the risk of importing political and ideological values that drown out and silence local values and interests (See [13]; [14]). Other authors have been exploring similar aspects (for example, [15]).…”