White Spaces Innovation in Sweden - Innovation policy for ... - Vinnova

WHITE SPACES INNOVATION IN SWEDENIn a recent report from the Australian Government (2007) discussing wicked problemsfrom a public policy perspective their properties are stated in the following ninepoints:Wicked problems are difficult to clearly defineWicked problems have many interdependencies and are often multi-causalAttempts to address wicked problems often lead to unforeseen consequencesWicked problems are often not stableWicked problems have no clear solutionWicked problems are socially complexWicked problems hardly ever sit conveniently with the responsibility of any oneorganisationWicked problems involve changing behaviourSome wicked problems are characterised by chronic policy failureWicked issues reflect prevailing and increasing social complexity, a key feature ofsocio-economic evolution. There are other forms of complexity as well. Innovation canalso be treated as a wicked problem and especially so if we talk about innovation toaddress grand societal challenges because then innovation is expected to have systemwideeffects.Complexity arises from the inter-relationship, inter-action and inter-connectivity ofelements within a system and between a system and its environment. Murray Gell-Mann["Complexity Vol. 1, No.5, 1995/96] traces the meaning to the root of the word. Plexusmeans braided or entwined, from which is derived complexus meaning braided together,and the English word "complex" is derived from the Latin. Complexity is thereforeassociated with the intricate inter-twining or inter-connectivity of elements within asystem and between a system and its environment.Another way of saying this is that complexity has to do with independence and interdependenceand from that perspective complexity is becoming of greater interestsince organizations, policy areas, the economy and society at large have to face increasingcomplexity. From an economic perspective independence is manifested in an ongoingspecialisation and a search for uniqueness in terms of what products and services tomarket. However, in a globalised world, interdependence is manifested in terms likevalue nets, „open innovation‟ and more broadly in social capital and relationships. Fromthe complexity perspective, the greater the variety in any complex adaptive system, thegreater the opportunity for novelty or innovation arising from knowledge recombinations.Hence, independence and specialisation are, from this perspective, sub-optimal.Complexity however does not argue for ever increasing interconnectivity, for highconnectivity implies a high degree of interdependence. This constrained (‟zero-sum‟)approach means that the greater the dependence between related systems or entities the22