From ignorance to innovation
Serendipitous and purposeful mobility in creative processes - The cases of biotechnology, legal services and board games
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4861871 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Verena Brinks (0000-0002-2137-8040, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space), Oliver Ibert (0000-0003-2148-6989, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, Germany; Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, corresponding author), Felix C Müller (Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space), Suntje Schmidt (0000-0002-4680-5387, Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space, Germany; Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1742-1763 |
| Publication date | 2018-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0308518x18758327 |
| OpenAlex | W2790450632 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 38 |
In this paper, we are concerned with the relationship between creativity, ignorance and mobility. We understand creativity as a social process of recombination, which is strongly shaped by the actors' lack of knowledge (or: ignorance) and thus argue in favor of a conceptual shift: Instead of analyzing creativity from a knowledge perspective, the analytical focus is on the participants' evolving ignorance. In a qualitative multiple-case study research of creative processes in three domains, biotechnology, legal services and board game design, we explore the time-spatial dynamics of collaboration under the influence of two distinct forms of ignorance: unrecognized and specified ignorance. Initially, participants do not know what they do not know and are unable to purposefully directed search for inspiration. In this stage, overlapping local opportunities play a significant role to afford serendipitous encounters. Creative processes take a decisive turn, once participants manage to specify their ignorance. It becomes possible to circumscribe missing expertise and to search for it more purposefully - or to intentionally refrain from further inquiry. Now mutual attraction of experts enables interaction across distance. Places deemed irrelevant are circumvented
Creativity · Economics · Engineering ethics · Epistemology · Ignorance · Knowledge management · Management · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Computer Science · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Engineering · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology
Sensemaking in organizations
The Difference
Ignorance and Uncertainty
The Sense of Dissonance
From Creativity to Innovation
When Collections of Creatives Become Creative Collectives
Strategies for Theorizing from Process Data
Building Theories from Case Study Research
Milieus of Creativity
Cities and the Creative Class
Nexus Work
The Relational Economy
Accessing remote knowledge--the roles of trade fairs, pipelines, crowdsourcing and listening posts
Open Region
Comparing knowledge bases
Risk as zombie category
Clusters and knowledge
Beyond proximities
Exploring Territorial Knowledge Dynamics through Innovation Biographies
Learning in ‘Organized Anarchies’
Varieties of Ignorance
(Re-)sources of innovation
From cluster to process
Research travel and disciplinary identities in the University of Cambridge, 1885–1955
The logic of strategic ignorance
The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action
Situated affect and collective meaning
From being there to being aware
The Unknown in Process
Three Fragments From a Sociologist's Notebooks
Structural Folds
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,63 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2024 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |