Innovation Beyond Technology (eBook)

The major purpose of this book is to clarify the importance of non-technological factors in innovation to cope with contemporary complex societal issues while critically reconsidering the relations between science, technology, innovation (STI), and society. For a few decades now, innovation-mainly derived from technological advancement-has been considered a driving force of economic and societal development and prosperity.

With that in mind, the following questions are dealt with in this book: What are the non-technological sources of innovation? What can the progress of STI bring to humankind? What roles will society be expected to play in the new model of innovation? The authors argue that the majority of so-called technological innovations are actually socio-technical innovations, requiring huge resources for financing activities, adapting regulations, designing adequate policy frames, and shaping new uses and new users while having the appropriate interaction with society.

This book gathers multi- and trans-disciplinary approaches in innovation that go beyond technology and take into account the inter-relations with social and human phenomena. Illustrated by carefully chosen examples and based on broad and well-informed analyses, it is highly recommended to readers who seek an in-depth and up-to-date integrated overview of innovation in its non-technological dimensions.

Sébastien Lechevalier is an economist and a professor at EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, Paris), specialized in the Japanese economy and Asian capitalism. He is also an associate researcher at GREThA (Bordeaux University). He is the founder and president of the Fondation France-Japon de l'EHESS (FFJ). He has been a visiting professor at The University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Hitotsubashi University, Waseda University, and Doshisha University.

He has published extensively on various dimensions of the Japanese economy in comparative perspective, including The Great Transformation of Japanese Capitalism (Routledge, 2014). His research also deals with the issue of innovation in academic institutions, at the corporate level, and from a public policy perspective. 

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The major purpose of this book is to clarify the importance of non-technological factors in innovation to cope with contemporary complex societal issues while critically reconsidering the relations between science, technology, innovation (STI), and society. For a few decades now, innovation-mainly derived from technological advancement-has been considered a driving force of economic and societal development and prosperity. With that in mind, the following questions are dealt with in this book: What are the non-technological sources of innovation? What can the progress of STI bring to humankind? What roles will society be expected to play in the new model of innovation? The authors argue that the majority of so-called technological innovations are actually socio-technical innovations, requiring huge resources for financing activities, adapting regulations, designing adequate policy frames, and shaping new uses and new users while having the appropriate interaction with society.This book gathers multi- and trans-disciplinary approaches in innovation that go beyond technology and take into account the inter-relations with social and human phenomena. Illustrated by carefully chosen examples and based on broad and well-informed analyses, it is highly recommended to readers who seek an in-depth and up-to-date integrated overview of innovation in its non-technological dimensions.