‘Innovation is a dirty word’: contesting innovation in the creative industries

Abstract

Innovation is a term that is used and defined in many different ways. This holds for innovation in general, but particularly for innovation in the creative industries. In cultural policy and in academic literature, the creative industries are often addressed in the relation to their innovative capacities, yet a shared conceptualisation of innovation in this sector is lacking. This paper seeks to develop a conceptualisation of innovation in the creative industries based on 43 interviews with creative workers about their views and practices. Results indicate that creative workers articulate numerous views on innovation, with three main approaches: innovation as something completely new, innovation as a contribution to society and innovation as a continuous recombination of new and existing elements, with the latter being most prevalent in the creative industries and considered a central (by-product of the) process of creative production that is highly contextual to specific localities and fields.

About introvert incumbents and extravert start-ups: An exploration of the dialectics of collaborative innovation in the Dutch journalism field

“…This is a suitable approach when various actors in a field are asked to reflect on innovation processes, collaboration, and sharing. This is also in line with the contextualized field approach to innovation, as proposed by Wijngaarden et al (2016).…”

Cultivating fertile learning grounds: Collegiality, tacit knowledge and innovation in creative co-working spaces

“…The creative and cultural industries are often hurrahed for their innovative capacities and their contribution to the knowledge economy (Florida, 2002;Garnham, 2005). Yet, how such innovations come about and how knowledge diffuses is difficult to determine (Pratt and Jeffcutt, 2009;Wijngaarden et al, 2019b). Innovation in the creative industries is often considered not a "technological big bang", but rather a "field of innovation", which is impacted by technology, regulation, organisation and situatedness in space and time (Pratt and Gornostaeva, 2009).…”

“…Innovation in the creative industries is often considered not a "technological big bang", but rather a "field of innovation", which is impacted by technology, regulation, organisation and situatedness in space and time (Pratt and Gornostaeva, 2009). It also tends to be much more a by-product of creative production, as well as very contextual in its occurrence (Wijngaarden et al, 2019b). Such 'on the job' innovationthe 'everyday problem solving' resulting in small innovations and eventually affording new products and servicesis especially distinctive for creative work (Green et al, 2007;Scott, 1999).…”

Analysis of market concentration in creative industry

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