Innovation Is Overrated: A Provocation
Filippo Gualtiero Blancato2024, Communications of the ACM
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Abstract
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The paper critiques the prevailing narrative that equates innovation with positive societal outcomes, arguing that this assumption often benefits technology companies more than society. It highlights the rising economic inequality and concentration of technological power among a few firms, questioning the adequacy of current economic metrics like GDP in addressing modern challenges. The text calls for a re-evaluation of tech-centric policies focused purely on fostering innovation, encouraging a broader discourse on the societal implications of technological monopolies and the need for regulatory frameworks that consider redistribution and sustainability.
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In view of the current socio-economic context, in which innovation is a key driving force for the sustainable development, which challenges are facing education and research to enhance and nurture innovation and better contribute to help developing and exploiting engineering, science and technology? This broad question has motivated the work behind the present work, which reviews the strongest themes of the 3rd International Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation (ICTPI), which was held in Austin, Texas, in August of 1999.
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