Innovation, Between Science and Science Fiction [Hardcover]

Fantasy and science fiction are both involved in the process of innovation in techno-scientific societies. Long regarded as a hindrance to rationality, and to science, science fiction has become the object of praise in recent decades.  Innovative organizations use science fiction to stimulate the creativity of their teams, and more and more entrepreneurs are using its influence to develop innovation. Scientific practice relies in part on an imaginary dimension. The mapping of the technical imagination of science fiction has become an important strategic issue, as has its patentability.  The conquest of space, the construction of cyberspace and virtual reality, biotechnologies and nanotechnologies are all at the center of futuristic fictions that participate in scientific speeches and discoveries.

Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction xvii

Chapter 1. The Growth of the Imagination in Industrial Societies 1

1.1. A short history of science fiction  1

1.1.1. From Frankenstein to The Island of Doctor Moreau 1

1.1.2. Jules Verne, the founding father of science fiction 3

1.1.3. Albert Robida, a visionary in the shadow of Jules Verne  6

1.1.4. Hugo Gernsback, from fictional invention to innovation  8

1.1.5. Hard science fiction 10

1.1.6. The cyberpunk movement  12

1.1.7. The biopunk movement  16

1.1.8. A map of utopic technologies  18

1.2. The imagination, a cognitive barrier useful for innovation 20

1.3. The organizations’ use of science fiction  21

1.3.1. Design fiction and the popularization of technological imagination  21

1.3.2. Scil#«