The Innovation ConundrumSeparating* the hope from hype

Rolin Moe, Ed.D.Director of Academic InnovationSeattle Pacific University

http://www.rolinmoe.org@rmoejo

Slides: http://bit.ly/2ma44Bb

Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (1784–1792) by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

Conclusion

Alpha-Pi by Morris Louis (1960). Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

Innovation has been key to many of humanity's greatest successes and our curiosity is therefore seen as one of our most valuable qualities.

- Sir Richard Branson, How Innovation Can Inspire the World (2014)

Machinery by Charles Demuth (1920). Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

The Wave of the Future

Tomorrow’s solution is not merely better than those we can conceive of today, but it is outside the bounds of contestation. It has no normative content; it just works, and we’ll all recognize that.

- Simon Waxman, Against Innovation (2012)

The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle (1495-1505). Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

Is ‘The Future’ a Proper Indicator?

A (Remarkably) Brief History of Innovation

Measuring InnovationEnrico Moretti, The New Economy of Jobs (2012)

Innovation Hubs: Places with significant patent requests typically combine the necessary education level and population density for both dynamic and sustained growth initiatives.

These spaces, through technological and social innovation, will be the world’s engines of prosperity.

For Magritte, from Femfolio (2006) by Lauren Ewing. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

Innovation By-catchVia Watkins (2016), a secondary analysis of Tang’s (2014) research on relationship of US population growth shows the greatest disparities between total population growth and minority population growth in cities which fit Moretti’s label of innovation hubs; innovation hubs see significantly less minority population growth than all other fast-growing cities.

Kolympiris & Klein (2017) found the presence of an innovation incubator on a college campus coincides with a decrease in the quality of campus innovations.

The Human Condition (1933) by Rene Magritte. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

Innovation – A Non-concept and a Hurray ConceptSpectrum V (1969) by Ellsworth Kelly. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

The major use of ethical judgments is not to indicate facts, but to create an influence. Instead of merely describing people's interests, they change or intensify them.

- C.L. Stevenson, Mind (1937)

Questioning Innovation

White Flag 1955 (1955) by Jasper Johns. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

The Death of Socrates (1787) by Jacques-Louis David. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

Number 28(1950) by Jackson Pollock. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)