Remaking the Innovator Imperative

Abstract

Does America need more innovators?We posed the question to highlight how innovation has become a national imperative pursued through the transformation of people. Societal goals such as regional development and international competitiveness take shape through initiatives to make innovators. Contributors have shown that such programs are ubiquitous and pervasive. Innovator initiatives target all age groups and career stages, from kindergarteners to senior scientists. Innovators train in formal and informal educational settings, supported by public and private funding. The innovator imperative operates at all scales, from individual garage inventors to interdisciplinary teams, regional innovation districts, and global federations.But asking the question implies doubt. It calls attention to the fact that the demand for innovation is at a crossroads. The contributors to this volume join journalists, policy advocates, and scholars in challenging the assumptions and impact of innovator initiatives. They have demonstrated that innovation training programs are historically prone to failure, they have questioned the efficacy of supposedly universal models, they have documented gender and racial disparities across the enterprise, and they have argued that innovation-once a means for solving societal problemshas become an end unto itself.Finally, we inquired about the need for innovators to open a dialogue about the purpose of innovator initiatives and whom they serve. We assembled champions, critics, and reformers to explore innovation's contradictory dimensions; to engage practitioners directly; and to do so via a reflective approach that treated participants symmetrically. Contributors collectively contextualized the assumptions, goals, practices, and consequences of the demand for innovators. This dialogue fosters opportunities for seeing how the imperative can be remade.

New missions for universities in the era of innovation: European and global perspectives for excellence and sustainability

“…initially confined to states' industrial and techno-scientific development policies, innovation evolved over time, extending from local initiatives in agriculture to companies and regions in the 70s and 80s (Wisnioski et al, 2019). The concept of "local innovation systems," exemplified by regions like Silicon Valley, emphasized synergy among governance, industry, and education systems (Ortiz, 2014).…”