Innovation Journalism

1
Innovation Journalism

• David Nordfors, Ph.D.Program Leader Innovation
  Journalism, Director, IIIJ Senior Research
  Scholar, Stanford, Special Adviser to the
  Director General, VINNOVA

Stanford po Stanford InJo ConferenceLjubljana 14
Jun 2007
2
THE BOTTOM LINE

• For the Innovation Economy to be part of
  Democratic Society, Independent Journalism Needs
  to Cover It.

3
The EU Challenge

• Shrinking part of world population
• Aging population
• Knowledge and competence spreading across world
• EU Labor Productivity Growth behind US - first
  time since WWII
• China, Korea - now 11 of EU ICT patent
  applications
• India is moving ahead
• EU not reaching Lisbon process benchmarks
• SOCIETY NEEDS ABILITY TO DISCUSS SOLUTIONS

4
Simplistic News Angle TodayEU not spending
enough on RD
5
Innovation is More Than Invention

• Innovation is the Process of Creating and
  Delivering New Customer Value in the Marketplace
  (C. Carlson, W Wilmot)
• INNOVATION IS THE MAJOR DRIVER OF ECONOMIC GROWTH
• INNOVATION IS A KEY WORD IN ECONOMY (OECD ETC.)
• INNOVATION IS NOT A KEYWORD FOR NEWS (AP, REUTERS
  ETC.)

6
Innovation seen as straightforward
7
Innovation Is Complex Not Linear.
8
Triple Helix
Q Which information do they share?
Government
A The News, for sure!
Shared News (shared attention)
Business
Academia
Knowledge is not transferred but co-developed
News media are main actors for Creating shared
knowledge
9
The Innovation System

• Innovation System The flow of technology,
  information and capital among people, enterprises
  and institutions which is key to an innovative
  process.

10
Proposed ConceptThe Innovation Communication
System

• Innovation System the flow of technology,
  information and capital .
• Subset Innovation Communication Systemthe flow
  of attention
• Key Actors - Attention Workers Journalists, PR
  Communicators, Lobbyists, Marketers

11

• DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM Competition between ideas.
  Alliances, compromises, conflicts, fight for
  attention. Winners Implement Their Ideas on
  Society.
• Power is with citizens votes
• Political Systems are recognized communities.
  Role of Political Journalism is recognized.
• INNOVATION SYSTEMCompetition between ideas.
  Alliances, compromises, conflicts, fight for
  attention. Winners Implement Their Ideas on the
  Market.
• Power is with citizens money
• Innovation Systems not recognized communities.
  Role of Innovation Journalism needs to be
  recognized

12
Innovation Journalism Definition

• Innovation Journalism is journalism covering
  innovation.
• It covers innovation processes and innovation
  (eco)systems.

13
Innovation Journalism gt New Words

• Innovation introduction of something new
• General Case InJo introduces names for new
  things
• Introduction requires communication
• Communication requires language
• Something new needs a name in order to be
  discussed
• The News spreads the new words so that new things
  can be discussed and introduced.
• Special Case InJo gives language for discussing
  how innovation happens in society

14
Innovation Journalism

• Is new as a concept and community
• Is not new as a practice
• Expression Innovation Journalism coined in 2003
  
• Is a combination of business, technology,
  political and cultural journalism.
• Can discuss innovation from a system point of
  view (e.g, who depends on who in building the
  mobile IP market, and how?).
• Evaluates progress of companies and societies by
  looking at the interaction between science, RD,
  business development and public policy.
• Scrutinizes the innovation systems and can act as
  a watch dog.

15
Challenge Journalism Beat Structure
Science
Technology
Business Finance
Politics
Culture
Today Innovation a topic within the beats
Vision Innovation a multidisciplinary beat
16
(No Transcript)
17
Definitions

• Innovations IN Journalism gt
• Innovative Journalism
• Journalism ABOUT Innovation gt
• Innovation Journalism

18
The Stanford InJo Fellowship Program 2007run by
Stanford and VINNOVA

• Fellows from Sweden, Finland, Pakistan
• Feb Kick-off Workshop at Stanford. Virtual
  Community Initiated
• Jan-Jun. Fellows Hosted by Top Tier Publications.
• Apr Follow-up Workshp at Stanford
• May 21-23 The Fourth Conference on Innovation
  JournalismFellows present papers on InJo best
  practices
• Alumni Activities

19
Virtual Community of Fellows
The virtual community holds the Fellows together
throughout and after the program
20
Intl. Innovation Journalism Fellowships
21
Stories By Fellows
22
THE CONFERENCE ON INNOVATION JOURNALISM 2007

23
www.innovationjournalism.org/blog
24
Innovation Journalism Towards Research on the
Interplay of Journalism in Innovation Ecosystems
David Nordfors, Innovation Journalism, Stanford,
VINNOVA Marc Ventresca, Oxford Andrew Hargadon,
UC Davis Turo Uskali Innovation Journalism
/Stanford, U Jyväskylä Antti Ainamo
SCANCOR/Stanford, Helsinki School of Economics
Stefan Jonsson SCANCOR/Stanford, Stockholm School
of Economics Stine Grodal, Stanford Alisa
Weinstein, Innovation Journalism, Red Herring
Mark Kennedy, University of Southern California
Peter Svensson Innovation Journalism/Stanford,
University of Linköping Fiona Reid Oxford
Science Enterprise Centre, Oxford
25

• Innovation Journalism - a useful theme for
  exploring the interplay of journalism in
  innovation ecosystems.
• how innovation processes and innovation
  ecosystems interact with public attention, with
  news media as an actor.
• how journalists cover innovation processes and
  innovation ecosystems incentives that drive
  innovationjournalism and how news organizations
  may be organized to perform the task.

26
Thank You!More info http//www.innovationjour
nalism.org
Email nordfors_at_stanford.edu ,
David.Nordfors_at_vinnova.se , david_at_iiij.org Phone
1 650 804 5184