Innovation in Socio-Cultural Context [Paperback]

Innovation - the process of obtaining, understanding, applying, transforming, managing and transferring knowledge - is a result of human collaboration, but it has become an increasingly complex process, with a growing number of interacting parties involved. Lack of innovation is not necessarily caused by lack of technology or lack of will to innovate, but often by social and cultural forces that jeopardize the cognitive processes and prevent potential innovation. This book focuses on the rule of social capital in the process of innovation: the social networks and the norms; values and attitudes (such as trust) of the actors; social capital as both bonding and bridging links between actors; and social capital as a feature at all spatial levels, from the single inventor to the transnational corporation. Contributors from a wide variety of countries and disciplines explore the cultural framework of innovation through empirics, case studies and examination of conceptual and methodological dilemmas.

Introduction  The Meaning and Importance of Socio-Cultural Context for Innovation Performance  Frane Adam and Hans Westlund  Part I: The Cultural and Cognitive Framework of Innovation  1. Culture and Cognition: The Foundations of Innovation in Modern Societies  Marian Adolf, Jason Mast and Nico Stehr  2. Socially Responsible Science and Innovation in Converging Technologies  Toni Pustovrh  3. Culture Impact on Innovation: Econometric Analysis of European Countries  Pedro Ferreira, Elvira Vieira and Isabel Neira  4. Communities as Spaces of Innovation  Joanne Roberts  Part II: Innovation and Social Capital: A Reconsideration of Conceptual and Methodological Dilemmas 5. National and Regional Innol/