Profa. Dra. Carolina Bagattolli (UFPR – Universidade Federal do Paraná) Profa. Dra. Noela Invernizzi (UFPR – Universidade Federal do Paraná) Prof. Dr. Tiago Brandão (NOVA FCSH – Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
Posted: February 28, 2022 Accepted Languages: English/Inglés/Inglês, Spanish/Español/Espanhol, Portuguese/Portugués
Innovation is everywhere – in academia, in political discourse and everyday spaces. Given the centrality assigned to innovation in contemporary societies, it is necessary to critically examine this phenomenon, questioning the dominant narratives about innovation, expanding the spaces for discussion and providing alternative approaches. Innovation, invariably considered as technological, tends to be appreciated strictly positively, seen as an engine of economic growth and a source of societal benefits. Alternative analyses and discourses are less common, highlighting their virtues and their negative implications and consequences (widening inequalities, environmental impacts, unemployment, among others).
This panel aims to gather papers that contribute to the rethinking and demystifying of innovation narratives and rescue their critical study for the STS studies. More specifically:
Reflect on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of an agenda of critical innovation studies;
From disciplinarity to interdisciplinarity in the study of innovation: from the economics of innovation to new methodological perspectives;
Problematize theories and models of innovation;
Deconstruct the dominant discourses and narratives that legitimize hegemonic approaches;
Confront the different ontologies of policy and development based on innovation models.
In methodological terms, the agenda of critical innovation studies can include:
Analysis within the tradition of the contemporary critical thinking: from outside or inside the innovation studies;
Discourse analysis: deconstructing the rhetoric of actors, policymakers and epistemic theories and narratives;
Intellectual history: documenting theories and trajectories of scholars in the field;
Conceptual analysis: the study of concepts used in the field, the transit of concepts between fields (academic and public) and their transformation into fashions;
Case studies: helping to understand and map the uses of innovation and rethink current narratives.
