Talk on 2/23/17 at Royal Roads University, discussing the concept of innovation from a critical perspective: if it is so benevolent why does it rarely make the change it promises?

1. The Innovation Conundrum
Separating* the hope from hype
Rolin Moe, Ed.D.
Director of Academic Innovation
Seattle Pacific University
http://www.rolinmoe.org
@rmoejo
Slides: http://bit.ly/2ma44Bb
Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (1784–1792) by Francisco de
Goya y Lucientes. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
(CC0)

2. Conclusion
Alpha-Pi by Morris Louis (1960). Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
(CC0)

3. Innovation has been key to
many of humanity's greatest
successes and our curiosity
is therefore seen as one of
our most valuable qualities.
- Sir Richard Branson, How
Innovation Can Inspire the
World (2014)
Machinery by Charles Demuth (1920). Provided by
the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)
The Wave of the Future

4. Tomorrow’s solution is
not merely better than
those we can conceive
of today, but it is outside
the bounds of
contestation. It has no
normative content; it
just works, and we’ll all
recognize that.
- Simon Waxman,
Against Innovation
(2012)
The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the
Castle (1495-1505). Provided by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)
Is ‘The Future’ a
Proper Indicator?

5. A (Remarkably) Brief History of Innovation

6. Measuring
Innovation
Enrico Moretti, The New
Economy of Jobs (2012)
Innovation Hubs:
Places with significant
patent requests
typically combine the
necessary education
level and population
density for both
dynamic and sustained
growth initiatives.
These spaces, through
technological and
social innovation, will
be the world’s engines
of prosperity.
For Magritte, from Femfolio (2006) by
Lauren Ewing. Provided by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

7. Innovation By-catch
Via Watkins (2016), a secondary
analysis of Tang’s (2014)
research on relationship of US
population growth shows the
greatest disparities between
total population growth and
minority population growth in
cities which fit Moretti’s label of
innovation hubs; innovation hubs
see significantly less minority
population growth than all other
fast-growing cities.
Kolympiris & Klein (2017) found
the presence of an innovation
incubator on a college campus
coincides with a decrease in the
quality of campus innovations.
The Human Condition (1933) by Rene Magritte. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of
Art (CC0)

8. Innovation – A Non-concept and a Hurray Concept
Spectrum V (1969) by Ellsworth Kelly. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0
The major use of ethical judgments is not to indicate facts, but to create an
influence. Instead of merely describing people's interests, they change or intensify
them.
- C.L. Stevenson, Mind (1937)

9. Questioning Innovation
White Flag 1955 (1955) by Jasper Johns. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0

10. The Death of Socrates (1787) by Jacques-Louis David. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

11. Number 28(1950) by Jackson Pollock. Provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0