Handbook on Alternative Theories of Innovation

This insightful Handbook scrutinizes alternative concepts and approaches to the dominant economic or industrial theories of innovation. Providing an assessment of these approaches, it questions the absence of these neglected types of innovation and suggests diverse theories.   International contributors provide a historical and critical analysis of all aspects of innovation, answering important questions such as ‘are we just reinventing the wheel?’.  Examining concepts that have existed for over a decade, chapters provide clarity on answering this question and investigate whether progress is actually being made. Split into seven parts, starting with the visions of innovation and reviewing multiple approaches and types of innovation, as well as utilising case studies to illustrate theories, this timely book provides an excellent update to this field.   This Handbook will be an invaluable resource for scholars and researchers of business management and public policy as well as policy makers and stakeholders.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction to the Handbook on Alternative Theories of Innovation 1 Benoît Godin, Gérald Gaglio and Dominique Vinck PART I VISIONS OF INNOVATION 1 Innovation theology 11 Benoît Godin 2 Imaginaries of innovation 23 Harro van Lente PART II THEORIZING INNOVATION IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: THE FOUNDATIONS 3 Theories of innovation 38 Benoît Godin 4 Economic approaches to industrial technological innovation 59 Irwin Feller PART III ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO INNOVATION 5 Mapping innovation diversity 79 Mónica Edwards-Schachter 6 Social innovation: contested understandings of social change 106 Cornelius Schubert 7 Sustainable innovation: analysing literature lineages 122 Frank Boons and Riza Batista-Navarro 8 Responsible innovation: challenging an alternative 135 Lucien von Schomberg PART IV ALTERNATIVE TYPES OF INNOVATION 9 User-centred innovation: from innovative users to user centred programmes 148 Bastien Tavner 10 Open innovation: the open society and its entrepreneurial bias 162 Tiago Brandão 11 Disruptive innovation: an organizational strategy and a technological concept 182 Darryl Cressman 12 Common innovation: the oldest species of innovation? 197 G.M. Peter Swann 13 Grassroots innovation: mainstreaming the discourse of informal sector 212 Fayaz Ahmad Sheikh and Hemant Kumar 14 Frugal innovation: reaching an ‘empowered’ developing-countries end-user 233 Céline Cholez and Pascale Trompette PART V SUPPORTING INNOVATION: REFRAMING THE INSTRUMENTS 15 X-innovation and international organizations narratives 252 Carolina Bagattolli 16 Transformative innovation policy: a novel approach? 276 Markus Grillitsch, Teis Hansen and Stine Madsen 17 Business innovation measurement: history and evolution 292 Giulio Perani PART VI IMMUNE DISCIPLINES AND FORGOTTEN THEORIZATIONS 18 Religion and innovation: charting the territory 310 Boris Rähme 19 Anthropology of and for innovation 334 Ulrich Ufer and Alexandra Hausstein 20 Philosophical reflections on the concept of innovation 354 Vincent Blok PART VII THEORIZING THE THEORIES 21 Ideology, engine or regime. Styles of critique and theories of innovation 369 Brice Laurent 22 Collateral innovation: renewing theory from case-studies 387 Gérald Gaglio and Dominique Vinck Conclusion to the Handbook on Alternative Theories of Innovation 404 Gérald Gaglio, Dominique Vinck and Benoît Godin Index

About the Author :
Edited by Benoît Godin, Full Professor, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Montréal, Canada, Gérald Gaglio, Full Professor, University Côte d’Azur, France and Dominique Vinck, Professor, STS Lab, Institut des Sciences Sociales, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Review :
‘This Handbook truly deserves its designation as such. It provides a comprehensive and multi-faceted overview of different conceptual meanings, theories, usages and interpretations of “innovation”. Far beyond the most familiar association with technology and industry, the reader is introduced to “social“, “responsible“, “sustainable“, “disruptive“ and other variations of innovation, their respective rationales, theoretical underpinnings, philosophical and policy implications. This collection of contributions by well-respected authors is a fascinating and unique attempt to capture the many paths covered by “innovation“ as a traveling concept.’