The Politics of User-Driven Innovation: On innovative users, do-able needs, and frugal robots
Users play an increasingly important role in European innovation policy. They are commonly seen as drivers of and active co-creators within innovation processes. However, user-driven innovation remains infused with a number of assumptions about users, technology, and “successful” innovation, which (...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade Federal do Parana
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Novation |
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| Online Access: | https://revistas.ufpr.br/novation/article/view/91146 |
| _version_ | 1797402068008304640 |
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| author | Benjamin Lipp |
| author_facet | Benjamin Lipp |
| author_sort | Benjamin Lipp |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Users play an increasingly important role in European innovation policy. They are commonly seen as drivers of and active co-creators within innovation processes. However, user-driven innovation remains infused with a number of assumptions about users, technology, and “successful” innovation, which (partly) undermine a more democratic, open approach to innovation. In this contribution, I investigate the interplay between broader policy assumptions in the European discourse on user-driven innovation and its practical performance within an innovation project centring on healthcare robotics. Here, I argue that the politics of user-driven innovation harbours particular assumptions that, in effect, restrict the agency of users while also engendering conflict and contradictory outcomes. Hence, user-driven innovation is not simply about users driving innovation but rather about interfacing users and their concerns with (robotics) developers and their technology. For this, I propose an analytics of interfacing, which draws together literatures on the performative dynamics of participatory processes and more recent work on the political economy of participation. Here, I contend that it is not enough to investigate the construction and performance of publics; rather, it is additionally necessary to follow the manifold practices by which those publics are rendered available for certain technological solutions – and vice versa. Such an analytical approach opens up a fruitful avenue to critically enquire into the politics of participation – sitting in between innovation policy and practice.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:19:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-981582e3900a49059236eca04bb6c23f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2562-7147 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T02:19:59Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Universidade Federal do Parana |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Novation |
| spelling | doaj.art-981582e3900a49059236eca04bb6c23f2023-12-06T18:16:12ZengUniversidade Federal do ParanaNovation2562-71472021-01-01320216589http://dx.doi.org/10.5380/nocsi.v0i3.91146The Politics of User-Driven Innovation: On innovative users, do-able needs, and frugal robots Benjamin Lipp0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4220-1532University of Hamburg, GermanyUsers play an increasingly important role in European innovation policy. They are commonly seen as drivers of and active co-creators within innovation processes. However, user-driven innovation remains infused with a number of assumptions about users, technology, and “successful” innovation, which (partly) undermine a more democratic, open approach to innovation. In this contribution, I investigate the interplay between broader policy assumptions in the European discourse on user-driven innovation and its practical performance within an innovation project centring on healthcare robotics. Here, I argue that the politics of user-driven innovation harbours particular assumptions that, in effect, restrict the agency of users while also engendering conflict and contradictory outcomes. Hence, user-driven innovation is not simply about users driving innovation but rather about interfacing users and their concerns with (robotics) developers and their technology. For this, I propose an analytics of interfacing, which draws together literatures on the performative dynamics of participatory processes and more recent work on the political economy of participation. Here, I contend that it is not enough to investigate the construction and performance of publics; rather, it is additionally necessary to follow the manifold practices by which those publics are rendered available for certain technological solutions – and vice versa. Such an analytical approach opens up a fruitful avenue to critically enquire into the politics of participation – sitting in between innovation policy and practice. https://revistas.ufpr.br/novation/article/view/91146user-driven innovationparticipationhealthcare roboticspre-commercial procurementinterfacing |
| spellingShingle | Benjamin Lipp The Politics of User-Driven Innovation: On innovative users, do-able needs, and frugal robots Novation user-driven innovation participation healthcare robotics pre-commercial procurement interfacing |
| title | The Politics of User-Driven Innovation: On innovative users, do-able needs, and frugal robots |
| title_full | The Politics of User-Driven Innovation: On innovative users, do-able needs, and frugal robots |
| title_fullStr | The Politics of User-Driven Innovation: On innovative users, do-able needs, and frugal robots |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Politics of User-Driven Innovation: On innovative users, do-able needs, and frugal robots |
| title_short | The Politics of User-Driven Innovation: On innovative users, do-able needs, and frugal robots |
| title_sort | politics of user driven innovation on innovative users do able needs and frugal robots |
| topic | user-driven innovation participation healthcare robotics pre-commercial procurement interfacing |
| url | https://revistas.ufpr.br/novation/article/view/91146 |
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