Innovation and as they don its Discontents - Where are we heading?
Process Player Piano Stuart Rankin Borrowing from Adam Jaffe and Josh Lerner's 2004 book, Innovation and its Discontents , an emerging discourse in innovation economics is highlighting more and more the negative impacts of the intense period of innovation in which we currently live. In the UK, the Science Policy Research Unit ( SPRU ) at the University of Sussex recently celebrated its 50th anniversary with a large conference entitled, "Transforming Innovation." Nearly two years ago, Kat Neil wrote about declining public trust in innovation . It is becoming increasingly apparent that economic growth and innovation is not benefitting everyone , and that it needs to be addressed by policy and society. At the SPRU conference, a session on IP looked at clashes between intellectual property rights and human rights’ protection. An ongoing concern is the potential that the participation of low-skilled workers in production will be rendered obsolete. A dystopian take on...