This section details three innovation projects that have lessons for embedding innovation into community food systems.
The Innovators of the Digital Age
Walter Isaacson has written extensively about innovators (Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Kissinger, Steve Jobs and upcoming Leonardo da Vinci). He writes about the innovators who created the digital sector (computer and internet) in his 2014 book The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution. From his research he has some innovation lessons that are applicable to any sector including the food. Specifically, he writes,
“…creativity is a collaborative process. Innovation comes from teams more often that from the lightbulb moments of lone geniuses. This is true of every era of
creative ferment. The Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution all had their institutions for collaborative work and their networks for sharing ideas. But to an even greater extent, this has been true of the digital age. As brilliant as the many inventors of the Internet and computer were, they achieved most of their advances through teamwork.” (Isaacson, 2014, p. 479)
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He notes that the most productive teams are those who have the widest array of specialties. He recommends pairing visionaries who can generate ideas with operating managers who can execute them. He notes that visionaries, who lack a great team, are often not successful. (Isaacson, 2014, pp. 480 - 481) According to Isaacson, there were three ways that collaborative teams were put together in the digital age:
government funding and coordination (original computers in 1950s under
President Eisenhower with the philosophy that the government should undertake projects for the common good like the space program and interstate highway system and often in partnership with universities and private contractors as part of a government-academic-industrial triangle);
private enterprise (research centres of big companies like Bell Labs, Xerox PARC, Texas Instruments, Intel, Atari, Google, Microsoft and Apple with the key driver being profit as a reward for players and a way to attract investors); and,
throughout history collaborative creativity has been organized through peers sharing ideas and making contributions as part of a voluntary common endeavor or as Harvard scholar, Yochai Benkler has labelled ‘commons-based peer production’ which internet enable on a larger scale than previously (building of Wikipedia and Web, Linux and other open-source software) because the open architecture is easy for others to build on top of and finally, this type of production is driven by reward and satisfaction, not financial rewards. (Isaacson, 2014, pp. 482-483)
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Isaacson summarized by explaining that the most successful digital endeavors were run by leaders who not only fostered collaboration, but also provided a clear vision. (Isaacson, 2014, p. 484)
Finally, he makes the point that critical to innovation is not only respecting science and the humanities together, but where they intersect. This is best demonstrated by Steve Jobs who stressed this at all of his product launches and in particular his final one for the iPad 2. He stated, “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough – that it’s
technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that makes our heart sing.” That’s what made him the most creative technology innovator of our era (Isaacson, 2014, p. 487).”
The lessons for incorporating innovation into community food system transition are as follows: build collaborative teams and a collaborative process; use government funding and coordination mixed with private sector players and open source or community
engagement; develop a clear vision; don’t forget to include implementers; and, find the place where technology, liberal arts and humanities meet as the place of innovation.
Carleton Connect Initiative
Carleton Connect Initiative (CCI) is Australia’s leading ‘innovation precinct’ that is anchored by the University of Melbourne. Innovation precincts are environments where interaction between sectors, disciplines and geographic boundaries are encouraged and people work together in creative and entrepreneurial ways. CCI started five years ago in the site of a former hospital adjacent to the University campus and it is still evolving. They have created ‘LAB-14’ which is a mini innovation hub prototype and the first stage includes
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multinationals, start-ups, government research labs, a PhD college, artist studio, university offices, a gallery and exhibition space all in one space. They consider it a thriving ecosystem that is driven by research themes of energy, water, climate change, sustainability and city resilience. There is a connection with German Universities for a PhD program. (University of Melbourne, 2017) (Shaw, 2017)
University alumni teams have created companies who fundraised over $10 million in investment to create 250 jobs and generate $10 million in revenue. Innovation teams from the Australian Post mix with a design-led thinking team from IBM’s Bluemix Innovation garage and they engage with other tenants including hackathons, research symposia, events, research projects and student internships. Australia Post also supports The Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP) that is student led. (University of Melbourne, 2017) (Shaw, 2017)
CCI uses an ecosystem-based approach to innovation to address global challenges by driving partnerships across disciplines and sectors. By working with research, industry, government, entrepreneurs and the social sector, they are breaking down barriers between disciplines, sectors and geographies. They actively drive collaboration through diverse activities. They invite the community to participate to help solution complex problems. (University of Melbourne, 2017) (Shaw, 2017)
There are many lessons for community food system transition from the CCI. The first is that they have created a dedicated intentional space to make this work happen. The second is setting up an innovation ecosystem with a cross-sectoral approach to break down barriers between and within sectors (business, government, research and civil society
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organizations), disciplines (science and humanities), and geography. Finally, they welcome citizen engagement as critical to the process.
Transformative Social Innovation
TRANsformative Social Innovation Theory (TRANSIT) is an EU project running from 2014 to 2017 to develop a theory change process in social relations that involves new ways of doing, organizing, framing and/or knowing. It is looking at changes in dominant
institutions and structures. The project is theoretical but also uses case studies and engagement with social entrepreneurs and innovators, policy makers and academics to inform theory. (TRANsformative Social Innovation Theory (TRANSIT), 2014) The TRANSIT theory, using a multi-level approach is detailed in Figure15 below. They have developed a new approach by including the concept of system innovation and three game changers (economic crisis, climate change and ICT revolution) that drive change.
Figure 18 Transformative Social Innovation Theory Model (Avelino & Wittmayer, 2014, p. 7)
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These game changers can be used as a catalyst for food and agriculture sustainability transitions. Climate change recognition and mitigation has been slow because it has a negative effect for the economy and it is potentially disruptive for society. In contrast, the ICT revolution represents a positive for the economy and it has caused established business practices to change at a fast rate for a number of years now, however government regulation is still slow. Understanding these game changers and incorporating them into transition pathways will be important to community food systems.