The document discusses some weaknesses in the innovation literature. It notes that the field started as a critique of economics but now deserves critical examination itself. It argues the literature focuses too narrowly on certain technologies and industries and has not kept up with recent disruptive changes driven by digital technologies, apps, robots, and the confluence of biotech, nanotech and digital. It questions how concepts like productivity and innovation are actually measured. It advocates considering technology as part of a larger "technium" that evolves in complex ways not captured by linear models of innovation.

1. INNOVATION = ∆
BRIAN WIXTED (PHD)
INDEPENDENT RESEARCHER
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR,
Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan
RESEARCH FELLOW,
Centre For Policy Research on Science and Technology (CPROST) SFU, Vancouver.

2. ∆ = ?

3. Introduction
• The point of this lecture is to point out some of the weak
points of the innovation literature albeit from the position of
one who is sympathetic to its overall vision.
• It is worthwhile occasionally asking of a field or discipline;
what are it is assumptions, where is it coming from – what is
its worldview.
• The innovation literature started mostly our of a critique of
mainstream neoclassical economics, so it is certainly
possible to pass the same critical eye over the massing
‘innovation’ field.

4. Innovation vs Disrupted Everything
• What we used to mean by ‘innovation’
• Progression – faster (286, 386, 486 – i5) lighter, 5kg laptops to tablets & better
•
• 2014 - Appropriability Mechanisms, Innovation and Productivity: Evidence from
the UK (Bronwyn H. Hall,Vania Sena http://www.nber.org/papers/w20514 - yet
hard to pin down a definition of innovation –
• Generally, the literature still does not include markets, new inputs etc…
• Newspaper industry disappearing and with it upsteam forestry production
• But what does it mean whenApps – Uber / Airbnb / Netflix disrupt ‘industries’
• Robotics are introduced to mining

5. Super fast history lesson
• 1960s – Chris Freeman organizedOECD countries to collect R&D data as a proxy for
innovation as a proxy for development (postWWII)
• 1970s – go read Research Policy – they are all online – many articles about
technology – new technology was a proxy for competitiveness and innovation
• 1980s – rapid rise of Japan in high R&D industries
• Late 1980s / early 1990s realisation that business doesn’t innovate alone.
• Innov systems lit – Freeman, Lundvall, Nelson, Edquist
• Go read Chris DeBresson – the very best at systematising ‘systems’

6. 1990s
• National innovation systems
• Clusters
• Regions (provinces or states) not econ regions
• Borders are / were largely still absolute (seeWixted 2009), start of globilisation but
the literature quiet.
• Rise of ICT industries – not digital yet (Innov lit loved this stuff)
• Internet mid 1990s
• Japan – stagnant and non-innovating (literature quiet on this)
• Non conformist economies (Canada,Australia, Norway – irrelevant to literature)
• Start of innovation surveys – do you sell new products?

7. 2000s
• Dot com bust - little comment
• Rising globalisation – little comment
• Innovation clusters literature focusses on cities
• Europe having problems ‘innovating’ already
• Financialisation
• Massive rise of China
• Massive rise in commodity prices – no comment
• Global FinancialCrises

8. 2010s - Literature
• Entrepreneurship
• Policy mixes (whatever that is)
• Open innovation
• University technology commercialisation
• Non innovation based literature

9. 2010s - Reality
• Itunes/Ipods/Smartphones
• wiped out retail music stories – perhaps fastest structural delayering of
economies
• Drones, Robotics, Algorithms
• Netflix – destroyed video stores
• Uber – tipping point – tiny company leveraging society against an industry
• Removing economic frictions and transactions costs
• Mobilising more possible `taxis`
• Reducing wages – huge potential impact on immigrant workforce - OECD nations

10. Innovation Policy #1
Source.

11. Innovation Policy #2
Source: Guy 2012

12. The Economist
Jan 2013

14. What’s the irony???

15. The London Sewer System
• The London sewers were a public investment.
• Some Government innovations have had the biggest impact of all…

16. Mundane is not ‘interesting’ but important
SECTOR FOCUS OF RESEARCH POLICY PAPERS –
SEARCH ON GOOGLE SCHOLAR – “INNOVATION” AND
• computer/PC ---717
• car/automobile ---284
• television/TV/radio ---209
• camera/video ---134
• video/electronic/interactive game ---
120
• hard disk/disk drive --- 42
• cell/mobile phone --- 37
• VS
• refrigerator/freezer/fridge --- 11
• washing machine/tumble drier --- 6
• vacuum cleaner --- 2
• washing powder/detergent --- 2
• domestic/toilet/kitchen/bathroom cleaner
--- 0
Source: Ben Martin 2013

17. Policy Velocities #1
Topics Number of
times covered
Cybersecurity 4
Drones 4
New vehicles 3
Policy issues 3
Nanotechnology 2
Digital 2
Uber 2
Mining 1
Labour markets 1
Bitcoin 1
Source: http://scipol-
velocity.blogspot.ca/2014/1
2/policy-velocity-2014-
year-in-review.html
The blog tracks (ad-hoc)
coverage of where
innovation policy is needed
– not to create innovation
but to regulate it.

18. Policy Velocities #2

19. BUT NOW.. The Tech-ecology
• Once upon a time we only had nature power (water / human / animal)
• Then the IR and we had carbon power (coal /oil & gas / etc) powering
mechanical devices…
• We are now see the confluence of three additional technologies
simultaneously
• Biotech / genomics
• Nanotechnology
• Digital
• These can come together in unique combinations.

20. Fully Automated 300 tonne trucks - Australia

21. Agriculture sensor network in Australia

22. Confluences, contradictions, weirdness
Digital
Digital
mfg
New
crop
mgt
Bio
mining
Bio ?
?
?
Nano
Mech
3D
printing
Algorith
ms
Apps
Senors
Robots

23. How do we measure any of this
PRODUCTIVITY
• Measures labour per output
• 1.Problems measuring this
• 2. Labour of 1.
• So seriously productivity is
really problematic
• Count $
• R&D, innovation sales
(rubbish numbers)
KEEP SCEPTICAL

24. The World Economy
– total value of activities.
Data calculated fromWIOD
Business services
Construction
Real Estate
Government
Finance industry

25. The World Economy
– MOSTTRADED $
Data calculated fromWIOD
Energy
Metals
Elec & Optical equip
Transport equip
Construction

26. The World Economy
–Trade share of all output.
Data calculated fromWIOD
Energy
Elec & optical equip
Transport Equip
Basic metals
Water transport

27. Innovation, Technology or Technium
• Innovation is a fairly linear concept –
• build a better product and you will be more competitive
• Societies & economies need to encourage as much innovation as
possible – that will create jobs and wealth.
• Maybe yes maybe no – but it is far too simple.
• Read Brian Arthur’s – The Nature ofTechnology sometime.
• Kevin Kelly talks about the Technium – technology as its own life
structure – somewhere perhaps between fungus and mammals.
• Not without problems but concept is getting richer – watch him at
www.longnow.org

28. The Global Economy

29. What is written isn’t the sum of what is true
• Richard Feynman
• A very great deal more truth can become known than can be proven.
• We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make
the work as finished as possible, to cover all the tracks, to not worry about the
blind alleys or to describe how you had the wrong idea first, and so on. So there
isn't any place to publish, in a dignified manner, what you actually did in order to
get to do the work.
• "The Development of the Space-TimeView of Quantum
Electrodynamics," Nobel Lecture (11 December 1965)
• For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations,
for nature cannot be fooled. http://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/v2appf.htm