Spotlight On…MIoIR
(9 November 2017)
This week our Spotlight On...feature highlights the work of the the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR)
Pictured l-r, we hear from:
- Laura Dawson, Strategic Communications and Engagement Manager
- Dr Eva Niesten, Lecturer in Innovation, Strategy and Entrepreneurship
- Jakob Edler, Executive Director of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research, and Professor of Innovation Policy and Strategy
- Dr Corina Balaban, Research Associate (inset)
Last week the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR), within the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), celebrated over 50 years of science and innovation policy and management research at The University of Manchester. What have the major contributions been from Manchester over the last 50 years?
Jakob – Maybe the most important achievement was to become one of the leading centres globally to establish science, technology and innovation studies as a field. Manchester, together with a very few selected other centres, has been instrumental to develop and apply a perspective on innovation and the link between science and innovation that went against established, orthodox economics, focused on a specific issue (i.e. the development of new ideas), the condition for their uptake and use and the effect they have on society and the economy. One of the main features of this work has been to focused on concrete problems, and to be eager to make a difference not only in the academic world, and in particular teaching, but also in policy and management. The Manchester tradition is a success story of combining ambitious, heterodox theoretical developments with concrete impact on policy and firm management, at national and international level. We are therefore perfectly placed to contribute to societal and political debates that currently focus very much on what policy, the economy and citizens can do to tackle our big societal challenges.
Laura – Luke Georghiou gave a great overview of the achievements of Liberal Studies in Science, the Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC), Centre for Research on Organisations, Management and Technical Change (CROMTEC) and Programme of Policy Research in Engineering, Science and Technology (PREST) – all of our previous incarnations! – and MIoIR, at the anniversary event last Friday (which is available on our blog, along with the text of various other speeches from the day). As the Institute’s strategic communications and engagement manager, you won’t be surprised that I would say that a major factor in the success of MIoIR and its antecedents has been the really strong interest in, and relationships with, the world outside academia, always actively engaging in particular with policymakers and their advisers. Prior to coming to MIOIR, I worked in policy circles around Westminster and Whitehall, and Manchester views on science and innovation policy were always at the top of my list when looking at these issues.
Which areas of research are you concentrating on at the moment?
Jakob - The Institute is a broad church, but we all share our excitement about trying to better understand the ways in which science, technology and innovation can contribute to better societies and to the economy. We do so by analysing the role of the state, and of governance more broadly, the changing nature, dynamics and processes of innovation in firms, the nature and impact of emerging technologies, such as graphene or synbiochemistry, and finally, the conditions for broader, more radical and holistic changes that are needed to tackle our societal challenges, which we call system transitions. My personal research within this Institute portfolio currently focuses on new models for science and innovation policy which are better suited to influence the direction of innovation. Empirically, I am working on the role of public procurement on innovation, with a recent focus on the city-regional level, taking Manchester as an example. Furthermore, I can finally pursue a long term interest of mine through the involvement in the eight-year-long research centre, the Oslo Institute for Research on the Impact of Science (OSIRIS), funded by the Norwegian Research Council, working on the conditions of policy making institutions to actually absorb scientific knowledge and use it for policy making.
Corina - As a new postdoc, I’m really lucky to have the opportunity to forge my own research agenda here at MIoIR. I’m going to be looking at the changing roles of universities in an age of cross-sectoral collaborations. More specifically, I’m researching the ways in which universities position themselves in relation to innovation and the extent to which they are able to do so without compromising their integrity as independent public institutions.
Eva – I’m researching alliances between firms that are aimed at environmental sustainability. What is really exciting about this topic - and challenging at the same time - is that it requires the integration of different disciplines, such as economics, management theories and environmental studies. One of the things that I’m trying to understand is why some environmental alliances are much better at combining environmental and financial performance, whereas others are still very much focused on financial performance.
Why is Manchester a good place to be working on Innovation?
Jakob - I think my two previous answers already give you an idea. Our anniversary last week has again demonstrated what a fascinating, intellectually buzzing city Manchester is. Standing in the history of so many great minds and colleagues is such a privilege and at the same time a constant driver to be innovative and risk-taking enough to continue this tradition and take it forward. The collection of colleagues we have here in the institute, and across AMBS, in our sister institution the Sustainable Consumption Institute, in other centres of the Faculty, and the eagerness of many scientists in other faculties to engage with us is, I think, unique globally. I do not know a place that has this critical mass of excellent people in our field in combination with so many opportunities outside the institute. Further, as a University institute I feel that we are very strongly embedded within and appreciated by AMBS, the Faculty and the University more broadly. The history and the critical mass of excellent colleagues makes Manchester a fantastic place to be. Beyond the institutional conditions, I also think that the Manchester city region is an extremely vibrant place to be, there is a strong interest in our work here, we have an excellent, and increasing, engagement with local and regional actors. The entire devolution process, the economic opportunities and the societal challenges make Manchester city region and the Northern Powerhouse almost living labs for science and innovation, much more change and excitement than I see in other regions of the UK.
Eva - The reason I moved to Manchester a few years ago is that MIoIR is one of the very few research institutes that combines a research focus on innovation and sustainability in the context of both policy studies and management studies. If we are aiming for a better understanding of sustainable transitions and are willing to stimulate the adoption and diffusion of sustainable innovations, we will need to consider the contribution of policy and business. Being part of MIoIR enables me to continue my research on sustainable innovation and collaborate with leading scholars in these fields.
Corina - MIoIR is one of the world leading centres on innovation research. It is an inspiring academic community where people come from lots of different disciplines and engage with a set of wide-ranging issues affecting society today. Manchester as a city is in itself a hub of cultural, social and academic activities that keep me engaged, curious and inspired.
If you had a time machine, when would you go back to? Or would you head in to the future?
Corina - If I had to pick, I think I would go to the future. I would like to see how societies have changed and evolved as a result of increased globalisation, interconnectedness, and social media. I would be interested to see how these developments have changed the ways in which people interacted with one another and the surrounding world.
Eva - Since we are heading in to the future anyway, it is probably more interesting to go back in time. As an economist, I would go back to the 1930s, a time during which you could make ground-breaking contributions to the theory of the firm and the economics of innovation, and address fundamental questions of the discipline. For instance, in 1937, Ronald Coase published an article that addressed the question ‘why do firms exist?’, and enabled economists to develop the discipline in a new direction.
Jakob - As an innovation scholar I should probably say I would go to the future to see if we as societies have managed to overcome the growing social and societal divides and tackled our major challenges, also through the help of intelligent use of science, technology and innovation, say, fast forward to 2067. I would chose that date as I could then see how people in 50 years would talk about the contribution of our academic field. Would we have made a small difference for the better? However, to be honest, as a German with a degree in social and economic history working and living in Manchester, I would probably go back to the 19th century, chatting away with Marx and Engels in my mother tongue and asking them about what made them hope to have any impact with their theoretical edifice unintelligible to all those they are concerned about. And I would make trips to Quarry Bank Mill, which is close to where I live, to actually see how it was when the transformational impact of technological innovation took off for good.