Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change

Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change

Author: David Lane

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2009-02-13

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 1402096631

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Innovation is nowadays a question of life and death for many of the economies of the western world. Yet, due to our generally reductionist scientific paradigm, invention and innovation are rarely studied scientifically. Most work prefers to study its context and its consequences. As a result, we are as a society, lacking the scientific tools to understand, improve or otherwise impact on the processes of invention and innovation. This book delves deeply into that topic, taking the position that the complex systems approach, with its emphasis on ‘emergence’, is better suited than our traditional approach to the phenomenon. In a collection of very coherent papers, which are the result of an EU-funded four year international research team’s effort, it addresses various aspect of the topic from different disciplinary angles. One of the main emphases is the need, in the social sciences, to move away from neo-darwinist ‘population thinking’ to ‘organization thinking’ if we want to understand social evolution. Another main emphasis is on developing a generative approach to invention and innovation, looking in detail at the contexts within which invention and innovation occur, and how these contexts impact on the chances for success or failure. Throughout, the book is infused with interesting new insights, but also presents several well-elaborated case studies that connect the ideas with a substantive body of ‘real world’ information.


Book Synopsis Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change by : David Lane

Download or read book Complexity Perspectives in Innovation and Social Change written by David Lane and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-02-13 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Innovation is nowadays a question of life and death for many of the economies of the western world. Yet, due to our generally reductionist scientific paradigm, invention and innovation are rarely studied scientifically. Most work prefers to study its context and its consequences. As a result, we are as a society, lacking the scientific tools to understand, improve or otherwise impact on the processes of invention and innovation. This book delves deeply into that topic, taking the position that the complex systems approach, with its emphasis on ‘emergence’, is better suited than our traditional approach to the phenomenon. In a collection of very coherent papers, which are the result of an EU-funded four year international research team’s effort, it addresses various aspect of the topic from different disciplinary angles. One of the main emphases is the need, in the social sciences, to move away from neo-darwinist ‘population thinking’ to ‘organization thinking’ if we want to understand social evolution. Another main emphasis is on developing a generative approach to invention and innovation, looking in detail at the contexts within which invention and innovation occur, and how these contexts impact on the chances for success or failure. Throughout, the book is infused with interesting new insights, but also presents several well-elaborated case studies that connect the ideas with a substantive body of ‘real world’ information.


Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change

Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change

Author: Cristiano Antonelli

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 577

ISBN-13: 0857930370

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This comprehensive and innovative Handbook applies the tools of the economics of complexity to analyse the causes and effects of technological and structural change. It grafts the intuitions of the economics of complexity into the tradition of analysis based upon the Schumpeterian and Marshallian legacies. The Handbook elaborates the notion of innovation as an emerging property of the organized complexity of an economic system, and provides the basic tools to understand the recursive dynamics between the emergence of innovation and the unfolding of organized complexity. In so doing, it highlights the role of organizational thinking in explaining the introduction of innovations and the dynamics of structural change. With a new methodological approach to the economics of technological change, this wide-ranging volume will become the standard reference for postgraduates, academics and practitioners in the fields of evolutionary economics, complexity economics and the economics of innovation.


Book Synopsis Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change by : Cristiano Antonelli

Download or read book Handbook on the Economic Complexity of Technological Change written by Cristiano Antonelli and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive and innovative Handbook applies the tools of the economics of complexity to analyse the causes and effects of technological and structural change. It grafts the intuitions of the economics of complexity into the tradition of analysis based upon the Schumpeterian and Marshallian legacies. The Handbook elaborates the notion of innovation as an emerging property of the organized complexity of an economic system, and provides the basic tools to understand the recursive dynamics between the emergence of innovation and the unfolding of organized complexity. In so doing, it highlights the role of organizational thinking in explaining the introduction of innovations and the dynamics of structural change. With a new methodological approach to the economics of technological change, this wide-ranging volume will become the standard reference for postgraduates, academics and practitioners in the fields of evolutionary economics, complexity economics and the economics of innovation.


Innovation in Complex Social Systems

Innovation in Complex Social Systems

Author: Petra Ahrweiler

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-04-05

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 1136996761

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Innovation is the creation of new, technologically feasible, commercially realisable products and processes and, if things go right, it emerges from the ongoing interaction of innovative organisations such as universities, research institutes, firms, government agencies and venture capitalists. Innovation in Complex Social Systems uses a "hard science" approach to examine innovation in a new way. Its contributors come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including social and natural sciences, computer science, and mathematics. Using cutting-edge methodology, they deal with the complex aspects of socio-economic innovation processes. Its approach opens up a new paradigm for innovation research, making innovation understandable and tractable using tools such as computational network analysis and agent-based simulation. This book of new work combines empirical analysis with a discussion of the tools and methods used to successfully investigate innovation from a range of international experts, and will be of interest to postgraduate students and scholars in economics, social science, innovation research and complexity science.


Book Synopsis Innovation in Complex Social Systems by : Petra Ahrweiler

Download or read book Innovation in Complex Social Systems written by Petra Ahrweiler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-04-05 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Innovation is the creation of new, technologically feasible, commercially realisable products and processes and, if things go right, it emerges from the ongoing interaction of innovative organisations such as universities, research institutes, firms, government agencies and venture capitalists. Innovation in Complex Social Systems uses a "hard science" approach to examine innovation in a new way. Its contributors come from a wide variety of backgrounds, including social and natural sciences, computer science, and mathematics. Using cutting-edge methodology, they deal with the complex aspects of socio-economic innovation processes. Its approach opens up a new paradigm for innovation research, making innovation understandable and tractable using tools such as computational network analysis and agent-based simulation. This book of new work combines empirical analysis with a discussion of the tools and methods used to successfully investigate innovation from a range of international experts, and will be of interest to postgraduate students and scholars in economics, social science, innovation research and complexity science.


The Evolutionary Complexity of Endogenous Innovation

The Evolutionary Complexity of Endogenous Innovation

Author: Cristiano Antonelli

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1788113799

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The notion of endogenous innovation as the outcome of the creative response of firms to out-of-equilibrium conditions is the cornerstone of the new evolutionary complexity. This book elaborates and applies the theoretical framework established in the author’s previous work Endogenous Innovation: The Economics of an Emergent System Property. This volume carefully explores the role of the reactivity of firms to out-of-equilibrium conditions. It also examines the quality of knowledge governance mechanisms in assessing the levels of externalities that define the likelihood of creative responses, as an alternative to adaptive responses.


Book Synopsis The Evolutionary Complexity of Endogenous Innovation by : Cristiano Antonelli

Download or read book The Evolutionary Complexity of Endogenous Innovation written by Cristiano Antonelli and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2018 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The notion of endogenous innovation as the outcome of the creative response of firms to out-of-equilibrium conditions is the cornerstone of the new evolutionary complexity. This book elaborates and applies the theoretical framework established in the author’s previous work Endogenous Innovation: The Economics of an Emergent System Property. This volume carefully explores the role of the reactivity of firms to out-of-equilibrium conditions. It also examines the quality of knowledge governance mechanisms in assessing the levels of externalities that define the likelihood of creative responses, as an alternative to adaptive responses.


Handbook of Economic Organization

Handbook of Economic Organization

Author: Anna Grandori

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2013-01-01

Total Pages: 641

ISBN-13: 178254822X

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ÔThis excellent volume brings together some of the most interesting writings on economic organization. It covers a vast range of topics that fall under the heading of economic organization, and most if not all aspects of a variety of organizational economics and organization theories are presented. Interestingly, this book also extends beyond the more traditional approaches informed by economics and organization theory as it broadens the horizon of the field by including relevant contributions from economic sociology, cognitive psychology, law, and strategic management. Given its breadth and depth, this volume will become one of the standard reference books that will inspire both theoretical and empirical research.Õ Ð John Hagedoorn, Maastricht University, The Netherlands ÔThis important new Handbook of Economic Organization is a highly successful attempt to integrate economic and organization theory. Anna Grandori, who is herself a leading scholar located at the boundaries of economics and organization theory, is to be congratulated on doing a superb job bringing together such a high profile group of internationally acknowledged scholars. Each of the essays in the book are original and contribute to demonstrating the valuable insights that economics can make to our understanding of organization and organizational design. Anna GrandoriÕs introductory and concluding chapters are not only excellent audits of the current state of our knowledge in this field but they also give a strong sense of direction for the possible futures of the discipline. Anna Grandori is not afraid to face head on some of the more philosophical issues relating to ÒorganizationÓ as an object of study and is to be commended for doing so. The economics of organization is a new, exciting and developing field and the essays in this book will help to shape the research agenda that will take this emergent discipline to its next stage.Õ Ð Peter M. Jackson, University of Leicester, UK ÔThis sweeping, comprehensive volume is a signal effort in building bridges between economics and organization theory. With a stellar cast of contributors, it will both inspire and provoke scholars with its grand amibitions, and generate considerable attention and debate. A remarkable effort by Anna Grandori.Õ Ð Walter W. Powell, Stanford University, US ÔAnna Grandori has astutely organized the commissioned chapters of an intellectually diverse set of scholars into an absolutely outstanding contribution that both defines the current state of organizational economics and points the perceptive reader toward an exciting intellectual future. From traditional research areas to the newest topics of interest, the chapters chart the current boundaries of the field. The chapters are filled with gems of insight across several distinct levels of analysis, whether it is a discussion of organizational design, or psychological economics or innovation or the organization as language, the discussions are contemporary, comprehensive and challenging. No serious scholar of organizational economics should be without this book.Õ Ð Richard N. Osborn, Wayne State University, US This comprehensive and groundbreaking Handbook integrates economic and organization theories to help elucidate the design and evolution of economic organization. Economic organization is regarded both as a subject of inquiry and as an emerging disciplinary field in its own right, integrating insights from economics, organization theory, strategy and management, economic sociology and cognitive psychology. The contributors, who share this integrated approach, are distinguished scholars at the productive peak in their fields. Each original, state-of-the art chapter not only addresses foundational issues, but also identifies key issues for future research. This original and wide-ranging Handbook will be a useful and thought-provoking read for academics, students and researchers in the fields of organization, management and economics.


Book Synopsis Handbook of Economic Organization by : Anna Grandori

Download or read book Handbook of Economic Organization written by Anna Grandori and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ÔThis excellent volume brings together some of the most interesting writings on economic organization. It covers a vast range of topics that fall under the heading of economic organization, and most if not all aspects of a variety of organizational economics and organization theories are presented. Interestingly, this book also extends beyond the more traditional approaches informed by economics and organization theory as it broadens the horizon of the field by including relevant contributions from economic sociology, cognitive psychology, law, and strategic management. Given its breadth and depth, this volume will become one of the standard reference books that will inspire both theoretical and empirical research.Õ Ð John Hagedoorn, Maastricht University, The Netherlands ÔThis important new Handbook of Economic Organization is a highly successful attempt to integrate economic and organization theory. Anna Grandori, who is herself a leading scholar located at the boundaries of economics and organization theory, is to be congratulated on doing a superb job bringing together such a high profile group of internationally acknowledged scholars. Each of the essays in the book are original and contribute to demonstrating the valuable insights that economics can make to our understanding of organization and organizational design. Anna GrandoriÕs introductory and concluding chapters are not only excellent audits of the current state of our knowledge in this field but they also give a strong sense of direction for the possible futures of the discipline. Anna Grandori is not afraid to face head on some of the more philosophical issues relating to ÒorganizationÓ as an object of study and is to be commended for doing so. The economics of organization is a new, exciting and developing field and the essays in this book will help to shape the research agenda that will take this emergent discipline to its next stage.Õ Ð Peter M. Jackson, University of Leicester, UK ÔThis sweeping, comprehensive volume is a signal effort in building bridges between economics and organization theory. With a stellar cast of contributors, it will both inspire and provoke scholars with its grand amibitions, and generate considerable attention and debate. A remarkable effort by Anna Grandori.Õ Ð Walter W. Powell, Stanford University, US ÔAnna Grandori has astutely organized the commissioned chapters of an intellectually diverse set of scholars into an absolutely outstanding contribution that both defines the current state of organizational economics and points the perceptive reader toward an exciting intellectual future. From traditional research areas to the newest topics of interest, the chapters chart the current boundaries of the field. The chapters are filled with gems of insight across several distinct levels of analysis, whether it is a discussion of organizational design, or psychological economics or innovation or the organization as language, the discussions are contemporary, comprehensive and challenging. No serious scholar of organizational economics should be without this book.Õ Ð Richard N. Osborn, Wayne State University, US This comprehensive and groundbreaking Handbook integrates economic and organization theories to help elucidate the design and evolution of economic organization. Economic organization is regarded both as a subject of inquiry and as an emerging disciplinary field in its own right, integrating insights from economics, organization theory, strategy and management, economic sociology and cognitive psychology. The contributors, who share this integrated approach, are distinguished scholars at the productive peak in their fields. Each original, state-of-the art chapter not only addresses foundational issues, but also identifies key issues for future research. This original and wide-ranging Handbook will be a useful and thought-provoking read for academics, students and researchers in the fields of organization, management and economics.


Social Sustainability, Past and Future

Social Sustainability, Past and Future

Author: Sander van der Leeuw

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-02-13

Total Pages: 533

ISBN-13: 1108498698

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A novel, integrated approach to understanding long-term human history, viewing it as the long-term evolution of human information-processing. This title is also available as Open Access.


Book Synopsis Social Sustainability, Past and Future by : Sander van der Leeuw

Download or read book Social Sustainability, Past and Future written by Sander van der Leeuw and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-13 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel, integrated approach to understanding long-term human history, viewing it as the long-term evolution of human information-processing. This title is also available as Open Access.


Handbook on Complexity and Public Policy

Handbook on Complexity and Public Policy

Author: Robert Geyer

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2015-05-29

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 1782549528

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'Over recent years Complexity Science has revealed to us new limits to our possible knowledge and control in social, cultural and economic systems. Instead of supposing that past statistics and patterns will give us predictable outcomes for possible actions, we now know the world is, and will always be, creative and surprising. Continuous structural evolution within such systems may change the mechanisms, descriptors, problems and opportunities, often negating policy aims. We therefore need to redevelop our thinking about interventions, policies and policy making, moving perhaps to a humbler, more 'learning' approach. In this Handbook, leading thinkers in multiple domains set out these new ideas and allow us to understand how these new ideas are changing policymaking and policies in this new era.' - Peter M Allen, Cranfield University, UK


Book Synopsis Handbook on Complexity and Public Policy by : Robert Geyer

Download or read book Handbook on Complexity and Public Policy written by Robert Geyer and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2015-05-29 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Over recent years Complexity Science has revealed to us new limits to our possible knowledge and control in social, cultural and economic systems. Instead of supposing that past statistics and patterns will give us predictable outcomes for possible actions, we now know the world is, and will always be, creative and surprising. Continuous structural evolution within such systems may change the mechanisms, descriptors, problems and opportunities, often negating policy aims. We therefore need to redevelop our thinking about interventions, policies and policy making, moving perhaps to a humbler, more 'learning' approach. In this Handbook, leading thinkers in multiple domains set out these new ideas and allow us to understand how these new ideas are changing policymaking and policies in this new era.' - Peter M Allen, Cranfield University, UK


Advanced Imagineering

Advanced Imagineering

Author: Diane Nijs

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 178897624X

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Articulating and illustrating how experience design can unlock experience innovation, this book offers a fresh perspective on effectuating corporate, public, social and whole system innovation by design. The book makes several contributions to the fields of innovation and design thinking by taking complexity science as its scientific point of reference. As such this is a highly provocative book for scholars, practitioners and students in the field of change and innovation.


Book Synopsis Advanced Imagineering by : Diane Nijs

Download or read book Advanced Imagineering written by Diane Nijs and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2019 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Articulating and illustrating how experience design can unlock experience innovation, this book offers a fresh perspective on effectuating corporate, public, social and whole system innovation by design. The book makes several contributions to the fields of innovation and design thinking by taking complexity science as its scientific point of reference. As such this is a highly provocative book for scholars, practitioners and students in the field of change and innovation.


Methods, Models, Simulations and Approaches Towards a General Theory of Change

Methods, Models, Simulations and Approaches Towards a General Theory of Change

Author: Gianfranco Minati

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 725

ISBN-13: 9814383333

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Other approaches are based on considering (1) periodic changes in structure as for processes of self-organisation; (2) non-periodic but coherent changes in structure, as for processes of emergence; (3) the quantum level of description. Papers in the book study the problem considering its transdisciplinary nature, i.e., systemic properties studied per se and not within specific disciplinary contexts. The aim of these studies is to outline a transdisciplinary theory of change in systemic properties. Such a theory should have simultaneous, corresponding and eventually hierarchical disciplinary aspects as expected for a general theory of emergence.


Book Synopsis Methods, Models, Simulations and Approaches Towards a General Theory of Change by : Gianfranco Minati

Download or read book Methods, Models, Simulations and Approaches Towards a General Theory of Change written by Gianfranco Minati and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2012 with total page 725 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Other approaches are based on considering (1) periodic changes in structure as for processes of self-organisation; (2) non-periodic but coherent changes in structure, as for processes of emergence; (3) the quantum level of description. Papers in the book study the problem considering its transdisciplinary nature, i.e., systemic properties studied per se and not within specific disciplinary contexts. The aim of these studies is to outline a transdisciplinary theory of change in systemic properties. Such a theory should have simultaneous, corresponding and eventually hierarchical disciplinary aspects as expected for a general theory of emergence.


Creative Complex Systems

Creative Complex Systems

Author: Kazuo Nishimura

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-10-26

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 9811644578

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In recent years, problems such as environmental and economic crises and pandemics caused by new viruses have been occurring on a global scale. Globalization brings about benefits, but it can increase the potential risks of “systemic problems”, leading to system-wide disruptions. The coronavirus pandemic, declared on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization, has revealed social disparities in the form of a higher risk of death for people of low-socioeconomic status and has caused massive destruction of the economy and of globalization itself. Extensive efforts to cope with these challenges have often led to the emergence of additional problems due to the chain of hidden causation. What can be done to protect against such emerging challenges? Despite the resulting complexity, once these individual problems are considered as different aspects of a single whole, seemingly contradictory issues can become totally understandable, as they can be integrated into a single coherent framework. This is the integrationist approach in contrast to the reductionist approach. Situations of this kind are truly relevant to understanding the question, “What are creative complex systems?” This book features contributions by members and colleagues of the Kyoto University International Research Unit of Integrated Complex System Science. It broadens our outlook from the traditional view of stability, in which global situations are eventually stabilized after the impact of destruction, to “creative” complex systems.


Book Synopsis Creative Complex Systems by : Kazuo Nishimura

Download or read book Creative Complex Systems written by Kazuo Nishimura and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, problems such as environmental and economic crises and pandemics caused by new viruses have been occurring on a global scale. Globalization brings about benefits, but it can increase the potential risks of “systemic problems”, leading to system-wide disruptions. The coronavirus pandemic, declared on March 11, 2020, by the World Health Organization, has revealed social disparities in the form of a higher risk of death for people of low-socioeconomic status and has caused massive destruction of the economy and of globalization itself. Extensive efforts to cope with these challenges have often led to the emergence of additional problems due to the chain of hidden causation. What can be done to protect against such emerging challenges? Despite the resulting complexity, once these individual problems are considered as different aspects of a single whole, seemingly contradictory issues can become totally understandable, as they can be integrated into a single coherent framework. This is the integrationist approach in contrast to the reductionist approach. Situations of this kind are truly relevant to understanding the question, “What are creative complex systems?” This book features contributions by members and colleagues of the Kyoto University International Research Unit of Integrated Complex System Science. It broadens our outlook from the traditional view of stability, in which global situations are eventually stabilized after the impact of destruction, to “creative” complex systems.