Creative Rationality and Innovation

Joëlle Forest is a lecturer at the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon in France. Her research focuses on the design process and the training of engineers. She is the Scientific Head of the Ingenious Engineers Chair at the Institut Gaston Berger.

• Foreword ixIntroduction xiiiChapter 1 Innovation: What Exactly Are We Talking About? 11.1 Some key distinctions 21.1.1 Distinguishing innovation from discovery and invention 21.1.2 What is the distinction between invention and innovation founded upon? 31.2 Typology of innovations based on their purpose 81.3 Typology of innovations based on their scale 101.4 Reasons for innovation 13Chapter 2 Thinking about Innovation Differently 172.1 Innovation in society 172.2 Schumpeter’s models of innovation 202.3 From innovation as an outcome to the analysis of innovation as a process 222.4 Contours of the linear and hierarchical model of innovation 242.5 A fertile ground for the creation of the linear and hierarchical model of innovation 252.5.1 The institutionalization of science 252.5.2 The lack of technical thought 272.6 Impact of the model with respect to the definition of research and innovation policies 282.7 Limitation of the linear and hierarchical model 302.7.1 Too much importance given to R&D 302.8 The design process at the core of the innovation process 362.9 The design process, what are we speaking about exactly? 402.9.1 The two models of the design process according to L Blessing 402.9.2 The stages of the design process 412.9.3 Overall convergence of the design process 422.9.4 Rule-based design regime versus innovative design regime 442.10 Validity of the model 46Chapter 3 Artificialism 513.1 Artificial world as a set of artifacts 523.2 Contribution of the Simonian theory to the understanding of the design process 553.2.1 Bounded rationality and satisficing 553.2.2 Design as a process obeying satisficing 563.2.3 Specificities of the design process 603.3 Simonian empiricism 613.4 Key propositions of Artificialism 623.5 Interest in thinking about innovation from the artificial perspective 683.5.1 Developing a comprehensive organizational system to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of the design process 693.5.2 Thinking of the user 70Chapter 4 Innovating by Implementing Creative Rationality 774.1 Creative rationality: what exactly are we talking about? 784.1.1 Thinking in terms of relation 784.1.2 A form of thought that can replace the inexplicable with the rational 814.2 The reality of creative rationality 844.2.1 What are innovation biographies? 844.2.2 The example of Gutenberg’s printing press 864.2.3 The example of the printing press is not an isolated case 884.2.4 Towards an adventurous transgression 904.2.5 The Solar Impulse project 964.2.6 A journey to the center of the production of knowledge 994.2.7 The basis of a creative rationality model 994.2.8 A limited production of knowledge 1024.2.9 A production of knowledge that must be interpreted beyond the reasoning at work 103Chapter 5 Creative Rationality and the Education System 1075.1 Teaching innovation: a political project 1085.2 A harmful confusion between innovation and entrepreneurship 1105.2.1 The Beylat–Tambourin report 1105.2.2 Confusion deriving from J Schumpeter 1125.2.3 The skills of innovators versus the skills of entrepreneurs 1145.3 School environment and creative rationality 1165.3.1 Challenging traditional school 1175.3.2 The parable of the “flea trainer” 1195.3.3 An education system that kills creativity 1225.4 Rehabilitating creativity rationality in the training of engineers 1255.5 Towards the pedagogy of adventure 1285.5.1 Observing to innovate 1295.5.2 Otherness: recognizing the other 1345.5.3 How to move from the idea of pedagogy of adventure to its implementation? 137Conclusion 147Bibliography 149Index 163