The Innovation Conundrum

On February 23, guest speaker Dr. Rolin Moe, Director of the Institute for Academic Innovation at Seattle Pacific University led an hour of exploration and learning about innovation.

What is innovation? And should we aspire to be “innovative?”

Dominant cultural assumptions about innovation, often bound in cycles of hype and reflexive jargon, assume omni-benevolence, focused on how to perpetuate innovation, incubate it, and celebrate it. Questioning innovation often seems antithetical to our culture’s esprit de corps. Innovation is the philosophical 'hurray' term, and if philosophy is any indicator, we should proceed with caution. Beyond the allure of innovators and innovativeness and innovation mindsets, however, is a complex landscape: the rise of innovation hubs in areas of growing economic inequality; the rise of the knowledge economy at a time of predominantly service-level employment opportunities; and the promise of technology as a tool of liberation when most systems with which we engage regularly require our reliance and impose control of use.

Watch the complete presentation.