The qualities of innovation

Andy Pratt gave a keynote presentation at at launch of the Culture-Society-Innovation Hub, School of Performance & Cultural Industries, University of Leeds. June 16th June entitled “The qualities of innovation: or, how newness enters the world”. In the presentation Andy sought to be provocative about normative notions of science in relation to innovation and the arts, and suggest instead that perhaps the arts have some more useful interpretations of innovation than science. Andy argued that the notion of translation, read through the insights of translation studies, and of migration experiences, and, social studies of science, is a generative and innovative relationship. He stated that we need to move away from the static and linear notions of ‘technology/knowledge transfer’ and explore these generative processes. In turn, he argued that this should cause us to think carefully about what policies or settings (social, economic and physical) will enable, or disable, them.