Developing Capacity for Innovation in Complex Systems

4 The making of innovation

Introduction

Creating innovation, innovations, or innovative organisations is not a linear, straightforward endeavour. There are numerous challenges associated with managing innovation, but balancing profitability and the need for renewal seems to be the hardest part. Even if there is no “one size fits all” formula for innovation, new ideas often emerge when we cannot make existing systems or the categories we have available to us accommodate new developments (Darsø, 2003). Achieving innovation is difficult, because it takes place when different ideas, perceptions, and ways of processing and judging information collide (Leonard and Strauss, 1997). This requires collaboration between actors who see the world in very ...