Description
“Digital innovation is a central keyword of economic policy planning in advanced capitalist countries. It signifies a call to reform all economic branches and social institutions in ways that make them more supportive of national competitiveness.” (Ampuja 2020, p.31)But why do we seem to fixate on digital innovation as a society? How does such aspirations for digital innovation materialise in practice? Does digital innovation always solve our problems as we wish for? And why is that?
In this guest lecture, we discuss the Blindness of Digital Innovation by addressing these questions from both political economy and organisational perspective. One can argue our aspiration or fetish for digital innovation is linked to the promises of capitalistic expansion including, more efficient production, new markets and new resources. But whether or not such aspiration meets realities depends on how digital technology is conceptualised, developed and operationalised on the ground, that is, in practice at an organisational and individual level. From a political economy perspective, we engage with Ampuja’s critique on digital innovation fetishism (2020) to reflect on the belief in the benefits of commercialised digital innovation. Through Leonard’s text on the development of new technology concepts (2011), we substantiate such critique from an organizational point of view by unfolding how technological innovation is conceptualised and developed in practice.
| Period | 26 Oct 2023 |
|---|---|
| Held at | University of Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Degree of Recognition | National |