Renovating Research and Policy on Creative Industries and Innovation

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Copyrights and creative commons licensing : pedagogical innovation in a higher education media literacy classroom

This article examines the role of copyrights in contemporary media literacies. It argues that, provided they are ethical, young people’s engagement with text should occur in environments that are as free from restriction as possible. Discussion of open culture ecologies and the emergent education commons is followed by a theorisation of both literacy and copyrights education as forms of epistemology: that is, as effects of knowledge producing discourses and practices. Because Creative Commons licenses respect and are based on existing copyright laws, a brief overview of traditional copyrights for educators is first provided. We then describe the voluntary Creative Commons copyright licensing framework (“some rights reserved”) as an alternative to conventional “all rights reserved” models. This is followed by an account of a series of workshop activities on copyrights and Creative Commons conducted by the authors in the media literacy classes of a preservice teacher education program in Queensland, Australia. It provides one example of a practical program on critical copyrights approaches, which may be adapted and used by other school and higher education institutions.

Design Led Innovation : exploring the synthesis of needs, technologies and business models

The term Design is used to describe a wide range of activities. Like the term innovation, it is often used to describe both an activity and an outcome. Many products and services are often described as being designed, as they describe a conscious process of linking form and function. Alternatively, the many and varied processes of design are often used to describe a cost centre of an organisation to demonstrate a particular competency. However design is often not used to describe the ‘value’ it provides to an organisation and more importantly the ‘value’ it provides to both existing and future customers. Design Led Innovation bridges this gap. Design Led Innovation is a process of creating a sustainable competitive advantage, by radically changing the customer value proposition. A conceptual model has been developed to assist organisations apply and embed design in a company’s vision, strategy, culture, leadership and development processes.

Diversity management for innovation in social enterprises in the UK

This paper examines the linkages between diversity management (DM), innovation and high performance in social enterprises. These linkages are explicated beyond traditional framing of DM limited to workforce composition, to include discussions of innovation through networked diversity practices; reconciliation; and funding options. The paper draws upon a UK-based national survey and the case study data. Multiple data collection methods were used, including semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and workshops with participant observation. NVivo and SPSS software packages were utilized in order to analyse the qualitative and quantitative data, respectively. We used thematic coding and cropping techniques in analysing the case studies in the paper. A broad range of conflicting and supporting literature was enfolded into the conversations and discussion. The paper demonstrates that social enterprises exhibit unique characteristics in terms of size and location, as well as their double remit to add value both economically and socially. As a conclusion, we argue for social enterprises to consider options for DM in the interests of maximization of innovation and business performance. We contend that further research is needed to describe how social entrepreneurs draw upon their various ‘diversity resources’ in the process of innovation

Education for the creative economy : innovation, transdisciplinarity, and networks

The question posed in this chapter is: To what extent does current education theory and practice prepare graduates for the creative economy? We first define what we mean by the term creative economy, explain why we think it is a significant point of focus, derive its key features, describe the human capital requirements of these features, and then discuss whether current education theory and practice are producing these human capital requirements. The term creative economy can be critiqued as a shibboleth, but as a high level metaphor, it nevertheless has value in directing us away from certain sorts of economic activity and toward other kinds. Much economic activity is in no way creative. If I have a monopoly on some valued resource, I do not need to be creative. Other forms of economic activity are intensely creative. If I have no valued resources, I must create something that is valued. At its simplest and yet most profound, the idea of a creative economy suggests a capacity to compete based on engaging in a gainful activity that is different from everyone else’s, rather than pursuing the same endeavor more competitively than everyone else. The ability to differentiate on novelty is key to the concept of creative economy and key to our analysis of education for this economy. Therefore, we follow Potts and Cunningham (2008, p. 18) and Potts, Cunningham, Hartley, and Ormerod (2008) in their discussion of the economic significance of the creative industries and see the creative economy not as a sector but as a set of economic processes that act on the economy as a whole to invigorate innovation based growth. We see the creative economy as suffused with all industry rather than as a sector in its own right. These economic processes are essentially concerned with the production of new ideas that ultimately become new products, service, industry sectors, or, in some cases, process or product innovations in older sectors. Therefore, our starting point is that modern economies depend on innovation, and we see the core of innovation as new knowledge of some kind. We commence with some observations about innovation.

Cultivating Innovation through Social Relationships: A Qualitative Study of Outstanding Australian Innovators in Science, Technology and the Creative Industries

In this chapter, we describe and explore social relationship patterns associated with outstanding innovation. In doing so, we draw upon the findings of 16 in-depth interviews with award-winning Australian innovators from science & technology and the creative industries. The interviews covered topics relating to various influences on individual innovation capacity and career development. We found that for all of the participants, innovation was a highly social process. Although each had been recognised individually for their innovative success, none worked in isolation. The ability to generate innovative outcomes was grounded in certain types of interaction and collaboration. We outline the distinctive features of the social relationships which seem to be important to innovation, and ask which ‘social network capabilities’ might underlie the ability to create an optimal pattern of interpersonal relationships. We discuss the implications of these findings for universities, which we argue play a key role in the development of nascent innovators.

Uncertainty and innovation in fashion design

Generally speaking, psychologists have suggested three traditional views of how people cope with uncertainty. They are the certainty maximiser, the intuitive statistician-economist and the knowledge seeker (Smithson, 2008). In times of uncertainty, such as the recent global financial crisis, these coping methods often result in innovation in industry. Richards (2003) identifies innovation as different from creativity in that innovation aims to transform and implement rather than simply explore and invent. An examination of the work of iconic fashion designers, through case study and situational analysis, reveals that coping with uncertainty manifests itself in ways that have resulted in innovations in design, marketing methods, production and consumption. In relation to contemporary fashion, where many garments look the same in style, colour, cut and fit (Finn, 2008), the concept of innovation is an important one. This paper explores the role of uncertainty as a driver of innovation in fashion design. A key aspect of seeking knowledge, as a mechanism to cope with this uncertainty, is a return to basics. This is a problem for contemporary fashion designers who are no longer necessarily makers and therefore do not engage with the basic materials and methods of garment construction. In many cases design in fashion has become digital, communicated to an unseen, unknown production team via scanned image and specification alone. The disconnection between the design and the making of garments, as a result of decades of off-shore manufacturing, has limited the opportunity for this return to basics. The authors argue that the role of the fashion designer has become about the final product and as a result there is a lack of innovation in the process of making: in the form, fit and function of fashion garments. They propose that ‘knowledge seeking’ as a result of uncertainty in the fashion industry, in particular through re-examination of the methods of making, could hold the key to a new era of innovation in fashion design.

Luxury fashion: The role of innovation as a key contributing factor in the development of luxury fashion goods and sustainable fashion design

Luxury is a quality that is difficult to define as the historical concept of luxury appears to be both dynamic and culturally specific. The everyday definition explains a ‘luxury’ in relation to a necessity: a luxury (product or service) is defined as something that consumers want rather than need. However, the growth of global markets has seen a boom in what are now referred to as ‘luxury brands’. This branding of products as luxury has resulted in a change in the way consumers understand luxury goods and services. In their attempts to characterize a luxury brand, Fionda & Moore in their article “The anatomy of a Luxury Brand” summarize a range of critical conditions that are in addition to product branding “... including product and design attributes of quality, craftsmanship and innovative, creative and unique products” (Fionda & Moore, 2009). For the purposes of discussing fashion design however, quality and craftsmanship are inseparable while creativity and innovation exist under different conditions. The terms ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’ are often used inter-changeably and are connected with most descriptions of the design process, defining ‘design’ and ‘fashion’ in many cases. Christian Marxt and Fredrik Hacklin identify this condition in their paper “Design, product development, innovation: all the same in the end?”(Marxt & Hacklin, 2005) and suggest that design communities should be aware that the distinction between these terms, whilst once quite definitive, is becoming narrow to a point where they will mean the same thing. In relation to theory building in the discipline this could pose significant problems. Brett Richards (2003) identifies innovation as different from creativity in that innovation aims to transform and implement rather than simply explore and invent. Considering this distinction, in particular relation to luxury branding, may affect the way in which design can contribute to a change in the way luxury fashion goods might be perceived in a polarised fashion market, namely suggesting that ‘luxury’ is what consumers need rather than the ‘pile it high, sell it cheap’ fashion that the current market dynamic would indicate they want. This paper attempts to explore the role of innovation as a key contributing factor in luxury concepts, in particular the relationship between innovation and creativity, the conditions which enable innovation, the role of craftsmanship in innovation and design innovation in relation to luxury fashion products. An argument is presented that technological innovation can be demonstrated as a common factor in the development of luxury fashion product and that the connection between designer and maker will play an important role in the development of luxury fashion goods for a sustainable fashion industry.

Technology, design and process innovation in the built environment

Buildings and infrastructure represent principal assets of any national economy as well as prime sources of environmental degradation. Making them more sustainable represents a key challenge for the construction, planning and design industries and governments at all levels; and the rapid urbanisation of the 21st century has turned this into a global challenge. This book embodies the results of a major research programme by members of the Australia Co-operative Research Centre for Construction Innovation and its global partners, presented for an international audience of construction researchers, senior professionals and advanced students. It covers four themes, applied to regeneration as well as to new build, and within the overall theme of Innovation: Sustainable Materials and Manufactures, focusing on building material products, their manufacture and assembly – and the reduction of their ecological ‘fingerprints’, the extension of their service lives, and their re-use and recyclability. It also explores the prospects for applying the principles of the assembly line. Virtual Design, Construction and Management, viewed as increasing sustainable development through automation, enhanced collaboration (such as virtual design teams), real time BL performance assessment during design, simulation of the construction process, life-cycle management of project information (zero information loss) risk minimisation, and increased potential for innovation and value adding. Integrating Design, Construction and Facility Management over the Project Life Cycle, by converging ICT, design science engineering and sustainability science. Integration across spatial scales, enabling building–infrastructure synergies (such as water and energy efficiency). Convergences between IT and design and operational processes are also viewed as a key platform increased sustainability.

Innovation networks in the construction arena : the strategic management of mixed enterprises

The building and construction sector is one of the five largest contributors to the Australian economy and is a key performance component in the economy of many other jurisdictions. However, the ongoing viability of this sector is increasingly reliant on its ability to foster and transfer innovated products and practices. Interorganisational networks, which bring together key industry stakeholders and facilitate the flows of information, resources and trust necessary to secure innovation, have emerged as a key growth strategy within this and other arenas. The blending of organisations, resources and purposes creates new, hybrid institutional forms that draw on a mix of contract, structure and interpersonal relationship as integration processes. This paper argues that hybrid networked arrangements, because they incorporate relational elements, require management strategies and techniques that not always synonymous with conventional management approaches, including those used within the building and construction sector. It traces the emergence of the Construction Innovation Project in Australia as a hybrid institutional arrangement moulding public, private and academic stakeholders of the building and construction industry into a coherent collective force aimed at fostering innovation and its application within all levels of the industry. Specifically, the paper examines the Construction Innovation Project to ascertain the impact of relational governance and its management to harness and leverage the skills, resources and capacities of members to secure innovative outcomes. Finally, the paper offers some prospects to guide the ongoing work of this body and any other charged with a similar integrative responsibility.