The relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship : easy definition, hard policy

The paper argues that innovation is the combination of an inventive process and an entrepreneurial process to create new economic value for defined stakeholders and focuses on the policy implications of this duality. Attention is concentrated on summarising the entrepreneurial process and its importance to innovation policy and avoids any detailed elaboration of the invention process. A very brief overview of the invention process is followed by a moderately detailed summary of Hindle's (2008) model of entrepreneurial process. With an understanding and formal articulation of entrepreneurial process it becomes possible to focus on the key issues that ought to inform the development of innovation policy. These key issues are discussed and the paper concludes where it began by emphasising the need to build innovation policy on the explicit recognition that innovation results from the blending of two processes, invention and entrepreneurship, and that viable innovation policy can never be created unless entrepreneurial process is properly understood and addressed.

The knowledge economy and innovation: certain uncertainty and the risk economy

The knowledge economy is a dominant force in today's world, and innovation policy and national systems of innovation are central to it. In this article, we draw on different sociological and economic theories of risk to engage critically with innovation policy and national systems of innovation. Beck's understanding of a risk society, Schumpeter's innovation thesis, and Perez's techno-economic paradigm are used to consider the risk economy, and the broader risk implications of knowledge economy policies and their associated innovation systems. Derrida's theory of haunting provides the methodological framework for our discussion. We use his notion of “hauntology” to conceptualize the risk economy as a ghost that haunts knowledge economy policies and systems. The spectral risk economy draws attention to the inherent instability of the knowledge economy, and challenges the certainty of its economic dogma by offering an alternative perspective. The risk economy problematizes knowledge economy policies and systems by revealing the uncertain and “undecidable” future of social, political and cultural hazards ignored in the interest of commercial gain.

Entrepreneurship policy development : New Zealand in comparison

This paper first examines the impact of entrepreneurship research on policy development in 20 countries of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor project. Curiously, despite its entrepreneurial endowments, the impact on New Zealand falls behind other countries. For a deeper insight, the paper then compares entrepreneurship and innovation policies in New Zealand and Sinaloa, Mexico. New Zealand has a robust innovation policy yet places little emphasis on the needs of actual individual entrepreneurs and their decision to choose self-employment. In Sinaloa, the emphasis is on creating more and better entrepreneurs, but there is no innovation policy. Both sides have something to learn from the other.

Policy rhetoric and the renovation of English schooling: the case of Creative Partnerships

Facing difficulties in the implementation of its ‘standards’ agenda, the English government has recently introduced a set of policy strategies and initiatives which seek to promote enjoyment, innovation and creativity in education. One such initiative is Creative Partnerships (CP). Funded predominantly from the Arts portfolio, CP brings creative practitioners into schools with the intention of bringing change to teaching and learning, and, more widely, of achieving whole school change. Using a corpus of policy texts and interviews, we examine the claims made within CP about innovation and indicate the rhetorical means by which the impression of radical change is married to the standards agenda. In particular, we highlight the ways in which texts re-work traditions of progressive change. We argue that this rhetorical recuperation of the ideals of an earlier period is a sign of a more general policy adjustment in English education. However, since it is combined with a continuing commitment to market-driven change, it cannot be said to be indicative of a new policy settlement.

Three arguments against ‘soft innovation’: towards a richer understanding of cultural innovation

This paper critiques recent research on innovation in the cultural and creative industries. In particular, this paper examines Paul Stoneman’s idea of ‘soft innovation’ as a jumping off point for discussing theories of cultural innovation more broadly. Three critiques are advanced. Firstly, soft innovation is a theoretical perspective that has developed from neoclassical economics, and is therefore vulnerable to criticisms levelled at neoclassical explanations of economic behaviour. Secondly, the theory of soft innovation can be criticised for being contin- gently inaccurate: the observed reality of cultural industries and marketplaces may not reflect the theory’s premises. Thirdly, because soft innovation defines the significance of an innovation in terms of marketplace success, it implies that only high-selling cultural products are significant, a difficult claim to substantiate. This paper concludes by arguing that our understanding of innovation in the cultural sphere can benefit from a multi-disciplinary approach grounded in the full gamut of human creativity.

Australian cultural and innovation policies: never the twain shall meet?

 In recent years, Australian cultural policy-makers have begun to pay more attention to innovation policy. Several of the Australian states specifically address issues of innovation in their formal cultural policies, and the Australia Council for the Arts has published an Innovation Strategy which purports to constitute 'a coordinated approach to supporting creativity as one of Australia's most valuable assets' (Australia Council 2006).

However, despite this prima facie policy commitment to supporting and fostering innovation in the arts and cultural industries, there remains a disconnect between cultural and innovation policies in Australia. On the one hand, cultural policies in Australia are confused and incoherent in their approach to cultural innovation, and many policy settings as they apply to cultural industries are antithetical to the aims of fostering innovation and R&D. Meanwhile, innovation policies continue to pay only marginal attention to the creative arts and cultural industries. This disconnect will be briefly examined in three fields of cultural policy: arts and cultural funding; copyright and intellectual property policy; and broadcast media policy.

It is argued that rather than promoting innovation, existing policy frameworks in all three areas, when not specifically framed around the protection of vested interests, are often contradictory and inimical to the disruptive influence of innovative artists, technologies and firms. Possible reasons for the disconnect include pragmatic matters of busy ministers and low policy priorities, and conceptual confusion over the status and value of culture.

GEM New Zealand's different approach

At 13.9% of the adult population, New Zealand's ''Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity'' is highest amongst developed countries. This benchmark uses the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) methodology. New Zealand has a high level of opportunity entrepreneurship and a moderate level of necessity entrepreneurship. New Zealand's entrepreneurial firms contribute about half of all new jobs created annually. Informal investment is a more important source of financing to entrepreneurs than venture capital. The proportion of female entrepreneurs has slipped over the past three years. Maori are more entrepreneurial than the rest of population. The study argues that New Zealand has an excellent innovation policy but no entrepreneurship policy.

Pharmaceutical benefits in Australia and Sweden: welfare policy and the cost of prescription drugs

Pharmaceutical benefits provide a stable framework within which consumers, prescribers, suppliers, pharmacists and other actors undertake transactions. The state in effect delivers a good that enhances individual autonomy. A major reason for the legitimacy enjoyed by pharmaceutical benefits in both Australia and Sweden is that these programs have strong attributes of universalism (rather than targeting). Sweden's predominantly public health system allows greater scope for pharmaceutical policy innovation. Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), while historically resilient and effective, is now wedged precariously between traditional considerations of equity and public health on the one hand, and constant pressure for increased marketisation on the other.

Transitional labour markets : a social investment and risk mitigation strategy for social policy

Drawing on transitional labor market (TLM) theory, this introductory chapter highlights major themes, overviews the contributions to this volume and suggests a future agenda for policy makers. The focus of applied research projects has been the impact of post-modem social transformations on systems of social protection, looking through the lens of the labor market and shifts in household and family structure. The Transitional Labor Market project uses the TLM model as a means of developing new thinking on how flexibility and innovation might be paired with social investment and new forms of social protection. TLM theory emphasizes the importance of institutions and of the links between different institutions which frequently operate as policy silos, rather than integrated systems to buffer risks and support capability and enhance employability. The great advantage of the TLM model is that it draws attention to the right places for strategic reform. It does not offer a standard set of institutions to facilitate transitions however.

Transacting with citizens: Australian government policy, strategy and implementation of online tax lodgement

Many governments have shown leadership in encouraging their citizenry to conduct transactions on-line. The policies that underpin these initiatives refer to a blend of civic benefits and efficiency goals. They combine the rhetoric of customer service with social shaping through ‘government as model user’ and procedures that require online activities. Many initiatives are described as ‘electronic service delivery’, terms that indicate an intention to provide much more than an additional channel for government interaction with citizens. Australia, as an innovator in eGovernment is a good example of this approach and its national government has specified policy goals for its online strategy. In this paper we examine the case of one Australian online delivery initiative, electronic tax lodgement (e-tax) and consider how well that initiative has met the policy goals of the government. Combining insights from Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory and political analysis, we outline potential difficulties that governments face in implementing ESD initiatives. Our conclusion from this case study is that the provision of good technology is only a small part of the ESD challenge. It shows how success of an ESD implementation may yield contradictory outcomes in terms of overall eGovernment strategies. This case highlights the need for long-term
implementation plans and integration of initiatives with broader government strategy.

'Creative destruction': knowledge economy policy and the future of arts and humanities in the academy

Policy conceptualizations of the global knowledge economy have led to the channelling of much Higher Education and Research and Development funding into the priority areas of science and technology. Among other things, this diversion of funding calls into question the future of traditional humanities and creative arts faculties. How these faculties, and the disciplines within them, might reconfigure themselves for the knowledge economy is, therefore, a question of great importance, although one that as yet has not been adequately answered. This paper explores some of the reasons for this by looking at how innovation in the knowledge economy is typically theorized. It takes one policy trajectory informing Australia's key innovation statement as an example. It argues that, insofar as the formation of this knowledge economy policy has been informed by a techno-economic paradigm, it works to preclude many humanities and creative arts disciplines. This paper, therefore, looks at how an alternative theorization of the knowledge economy might offer a more robust framework from within which to develop humanities and creative arts Higher Education and Research policy in the knowledge economy, both in Australia and internationally.
1 This article draws on the Australian Research Council project, Knowledge/economy/society: a sociological study of an education policy discourse in Australia in globalising circumstances, being conducted by Jane Kenway, Elizabeth Bullen and Simon Robb. This 3-year project looks at how understandings of the knowledge economy and knowledge society inform current education policy and, in turn, how this policy translates into educational practice. The methodology includes policy analysis, interviews with policy makers in government, and supranational organizations. It also includes cameo studies of innovative educational practice, two of which we draw on here.