ABSTRACT
In the last chapter, I explored two prominent strands in mainstream thinking about innovation. The first strand, founded in the thought of neoclassical economics, understands innovation to originate in the mind of the autonomous individual. That individual is assumed to produce innovative ideas through processes of rational, deductive reasoning about market needs and the goals that the innovation must satisfy to meet those needs. These goals have to do with attaining optimal fit to market needs. Thereafter, the innovation proceeds according to a designed programme against which actual progress is monitored to secure the efficient realization of the innovation’s goals. I pointed to how this is a “both . . . and” way of thinking, in that the innovation process involves both the autonomous individual, understood as the rational chooser of the innovation and its goals, and a cybernetic or self-regulating system controlling the progress of the innovation so as to ensure its efficient realization. The emphasis is on efficiency understood as the removal of redundant, that is, unnecessary or surplus activity. The cybernetic or selfregulating system essentially damps difference to keep the innovation moving towards its goals. Deviations, instability and mess are all to be removed by the operation of the system. There is no place for variety or anything that might look like randomness or chance. Understanding is central and misunderstanding is in no way essential. Misunderstanding does not arise between rational individuals and when it does it is simply an inefficient distraction, or noise. The essence is removing uncertainty and securing stability and regularity. The system operates to keep activity moving towards a goal set from outside the system by the innovator, who
takes the position of the objective observer in much the same way as the natural scientist, a rational, calculating forecaster. What is lacking in this way of thinking, I suggested, is an explanation of how the need for an innovation arises in the first place. The innovative idea is taken as a given, awaiting discovery by the reasoning processes of the autonomous individual. After this, the innovation proceeds automatically within a self-regulating system.
