Innovation is nowadays a question of life and death for many of the
economies of the western world. Yet, due to our generally reductionist
scientific paradigm, invention and innovation are rarely studied
scientifically. Most work prefers to study its context and its
consequences. As a result, we are as a society, lacking the scientific
tools to understand, improve or otherwise impact on the processes of
invention and innovation. This book delves deeply into that topic,
taking the position that the complex systems approach, with its emphasis
on 'emergence', is better suited than our traditional approach to the
phenomenon. In a collection of very coherent papers, which are the
result of an EU-funded four year international research team's effort,
it addresses various aspect of the topic from different disciplinary
angles. One of the main emphases is the need, in the social sciences, to
move away from neo-darwinist 'population thinking' to 'organization
thinking' if we want to understand social evolution. Another main
emphasis is on developing a generative approach to invention and
innovation, looking in detail at the contexts within which invention and
innovation occur, and how these contexts impact on the chances for
success or failure. Throughout, the book is infused with interesting new
insights, but also presents several well-elaborated case studies that
connect the ideas with a substantive body of 'real world' information.
