Innovation journalism

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

Introduction

Innovation is more than invention. An invention is something new, it can be done by a single person. Innovation is the introduction of something new, it always involves the interaction between several people. It is the process of creating and delivering new value on a market or in a community. Innovation journalism covers how innovation happens.

Traditional newsbeats - like business, technology, science and political journalism - look only at certain aspects of innovation processes and ecosystems. Innovation is treated as a topic within each beat, and the bigger picture is chopped up to fit into a specific news slot, usually technology or business journalism. The concept of Innovation Journalism (InJo) was [http://www.vinnova.se/vinnova_shop/ItemView____9176.aspx coined in 2003] by David Nordfors. For Innovation Journalism the process of innovation itself is the central concept, treating business, technology, politics etc. as nested components of a news story. In terms of traditional newsbeats, InJo is multidisciplinary. It is a 'horizontal' beat, spanning across the old beats, reporting on innovation processes and innovation ecosystems.

InJo identifies and reports on issues in the innovation ecosystems, such as emerging concepts, the interaction between the main actors, or what is happening in innovation value chains. It spans themes such as science and technology trends, intellectual property, finance, standardization, industrial production processes, marketing of new technologies, business models, politics, cultural trends, social impacts, and more.

InJo can be seen either as a horizontal newsbeat or as a mindset within traditional newsbeats.

Injo Programs

The Innovation Journalism Program at Stanford

The first innovation journalism program - the Innovation Journalism Program at Stanford [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/blog] - was started by David Nordfors in 2003 as a Swedish initiative, a collaboration between VINNOVA, the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, and SCIL, Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning, at Stanford University. The initial activity of the program was the Innovation Journalism Fellowships, where each year a selected number of journalists mix workshops and conferences at Stanford with covering innovation in collaboration with hosting newsrooms. Initially, the program hosted only Swedish journalists. In 2006 an affiliated Finnish national innovation journalism program was spearheaded by Seppo Sisättö, introducing Finnish Fellows into the program at Stanford, with support from SITRA and the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation. In 2007, the Competitiveness Support Fund in Pakistan funded a Pakistan Injo program, which also nominates Fellows to the Stanford program.

The Injo program at Stanford hosts The Conference on Innovation Journalism, which has run yearly since 2004.

Research Projects

At an academic workshop at Stanford University April 2004 a group of researchers suggested Innovation Journalism as a useful theme in scholarly research through which to investigate the interplay of journalism in innovation ecosystems [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/injo-3-2.pdf Nordfors, Ventresca et.al.] . This involves investigating how journalism plays a part in connecting innovation with public interests and how innovation processes and innovation ecosystems interact with public attention, with news media as an actor. The report suggests it may also be of interest to study in which ways journalists cover innovation processes and innovation ecosystems, the incentives that may drive innovation journalism and how news organizations may be organized to perform the task. It outlines examples of research project topics to illustrate how this approach can inform studies of innovation, studies of journalism as practice, and possible scipes for the research theme. [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/NF-100406.pdf A grant was issued] by VINNOVA in October 2006 to make a literature study as suggested by the report, intended to form a base for developing innovation journalism as a theme within academic research.

In a Finnish research project at the University of Tampere, the emphasis has been on innovation journalism as "future work" of society, suggesting the possibility of using the methodology of future research (e.g. delphi, future scenarios) in properly adjusted "lighter" journalistic versions as tools of innovation journalism. This idea was first introduced by Dr. Uskali (University of Jyväskylä)in a paper presented in the Second Innovation Journalism Conference at Stanford. [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-2-11.pdf] The Finnish project proposed a somewhat wider definition of the concept. According to it not only "the social impact" of technology but also "social conditions" of technology and, indeed, social innovations are a relevant topics of innovation journalism. That gives issues like technology and citizen society, technology and gender, and technology as a global agent of change, among others, a prominent role in innovation journalism thus understood. [http://innovaatiot.fi/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=MyInnovationResearchProject2005-2006.ProjectPublications] . The research report of the project "Innovation, Journalism and Future" is available free in printed form from Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation ([e-mail]). It is also downloadable as pdf. [http://www.innovaatiot.fi/pmwiki/pub/texts/IJF.pdf]

InJo's History

* 2001-2002. A project for introducing Innovation Journalism as a concept and community is initiated by David Nordfors at VINNOVA, the Swedish Government Agency for Innovation Systems.
* June 2003. The first Innovation Journalism Fellowship program is announced by VINNOVA.
* October 2003. Publication of "The Concept of Innovation Journalism and a Programme for Developing It", the seminal paper coining the expression "innovation journalism", by Nordfors. [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-1-1.pdf]
* January 2004. The first round of Swedish Innovation Journalism Fellows gets started. Program leader David Nordfors relocates to Stanford University as a visiting scholar with Prof. Stig Hagström at the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning.
* April 2004 the First Conference on Innovation Journalism was held at Stanford University Links: Conference Program [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-1-2.pdf] , Conference Papers [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-1-3.pdf] , News Release [http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=105&STORY=/www/story/04-22-2004/0002158065]
* June 2004 VINNOVA launches second round of Swedish InJo Fellowships.
* November 2004, The Swedish-US initiative was followed by the Finnish Innovation Journalism research and education initiative [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/NF-010405.pdf] . The first Finnish course of Innovation Journalism began, organized by the Journalism Research and Development Center of the University of Tampere [http://www.uta.fi/jourtutkimus/basics.html Journalism Research and Development Center] .
* January 2005, an Innovation Journalism initiative was created at the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning at Stanford University in the United States, in co-operation with the Swedish program.
* April 2005, The Second Conference on Innovation Journalism is held at Stanford, organized by the Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning and The Swedish Innovation Journalism Initiative run by VINNOVA, the Swedish Government Agency for Innovation Systems. The conference is co-sponsored by The Finnish Innovation Journalism Initiative and The Stanford Graduate Program in Journalism. Documentation: Conference Program [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-2-3.pdf] , Conference Papers [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-2-4.pdf] . News releases: Innovation Journalism news release [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/NF-041505.pdf] and Stanford news release [http://scil.stanford.edu/news/inovJournal.html] .
* June 2005, VINNOVA launches the third round of Swedish InJo fellowships.
* September 2005, The second course of Innovation journalism organized by the Journalism Research and Development Center of the University of Tampere began.
* September 2005, The University of Jyväskylä in Finland launches the first Innovation Journalism course for university students [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/NF-091205.pdf]
* October 2005, A National Innovation Journalism Fellowship program is launched in Finland, nominating fellows to the program at Stanford [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/NF-102805.pdf]
* November 2005. Session dedicated to Innovation Journalism at the Global Conference of TCI, The Competitiveness Institute, in Hong Kong.
* November 2005. Announcement of a National Innovation Journalism Fellowship program for Pakistan, nominating fellows to the program at Stanford. [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/NF-111105.pdf]
* April 5-7, 2006. The Third Conference on Innovation Journalism, Stanford University. Program: [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-3-3.pdf] , Proceedings: [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-3-4/index.htm]
* April 20, 2006: An international group of researchers meeting at Stanford suggest Innovation Journalism as a useful theme within academic research: "Innovation Journalism: Towards Research on the Interplay of Journalism in Innovation Ecosystems" (Nordfors, Ventresca et.al.) [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-3-2.pdf] . VINNOVA grants funding to the literature study in September. [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/blog/2006/10/innovation-journalism-gets-academic.html]
* April 20, 2006: The 1st conference on innovation journalism "Stanford after Stanford 2006" took place in Slovenia at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. The purpose of the conference was to reinforce the need for innovation journalism as one of the most powerful tools for the development and growth of innovation society. The conference was the crucial point for the development of InJo concept in Slovenia and Slovenia is today one of the early stage participants in the deployment of InJo concept in practice: in local communities, business environments and the local media sector. [http://www.innovationjournalism.si/page.php?2]
* August 2006: Swedish innovation policy implicitly recognizes journalism as a key actor in innovation systems: VINNOVA DG Per Eriksson decides to transfer Innovation Journalism initiative from pilot program status to regular program status, sorts it under the Innovation Actors Division. [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/blog/2006/08/swedish-innovation-journalism-program.html]
* September 2006: Dr Marta Svetina, Director General of national Slovenian Technology Agency TIA, announces Innovation Journalism as part of the Slovenian innovation policy and supports three pilot projects organized by Vibacom. [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/blog/2006/08/slovenias-first-injo-projects-press.html]
* September 2006: European Journalism Centre EJC organizes InJo workshop. [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/blog/2006/10/european-journalism-centre-injo.html]
* Oct 9-13, 2006: The Global Conference of TCI, this year in Lyon, France, dedicates a plenary + breakout session to InJo. In the plenary session, the founding director generals from VINNOVA (Dr. Per Eriksson, Sweden) and TIA (Dr. Marta Svetina, Slovenia), the founding director of the Competitiveness Support Fund (Arthur Bayhan, Pakistan) and the secretary of the Finnish National Innovation Journalism Fellowship Program (Dr Seppo Sisättö) explain why they include InJo in the national innovation policy of their respective countries.
* October 18, 2006: 1st European Workshop on Innovation Journalism took place in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Participants from Slovenia and wider region shared the experience and aims of Innovation Journalism and exchange views between the experts and opinion makers on this topic. [http://www.innovationjournalism.si/page.php?20]
*February 2007: The IIIJ - the International Institute of Innovation Journalism is formally registered as a non-profit foundation in the US. The IIIJ is created for the Innovation Journalism Program at Stanford, and starts in an embryonic phase. Founder/Director is David Nordfors.
*February 2, 2007: The Finnish Society for Innovation Journalism was founded. [http://innovaatiot.fi/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Finjo.Finjo]
*February 21, 2007: The publication of the first major academic study on innovation journalism, Kauhanen & Noppari (2007): Innovation, Journalism and Future (Tekes, Technology review 200/2007). [http://www.innovaatiot.fi/pmwiki/pub/texts/IJF.pdf]
*February 26-March 2, 2007: Kickoff workshop for the fourth round of Innovation Journalism Fellowships, including fellows from Sweden, Finland and Pakistan.
*March 22, 2007: The Confederation of Indian Industry and the US National Academy of Sciences includes Innovation Journalism as a theme at the 1st Global Innovation Summit in India, New Delhi, with Nordfors as invited speaker.
*March 28, 2007: [http://www.eas.ee Enterprise Estonia] arranges in cooperation with IIIJ the first workshops in Estonia on Innovation Journalism - one for journalists, one for policy makers. The workshops are organized by David Nordfors, IIIJ and Madis Vööras/Ene Kull at Enterprise Estonia. Speakers are apart from Nordfors, Jan Sandred, Thomas Frostberg and Jyrki Alkio - all previous InJo fellows.
*April 13, 2007, The Finnish Society for Innovation Journalism Finjo [http://www.finjo.fi] granted the first Finnish Award for excellence in innovation journalism, Innovation Crystal 2007, to journalist Sami Suojanen, of the newspaper Aamulehti. [http://innovaatiot.fi/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.HomePage]
*May 21-23, 2007, The Fourth Conference on Innovation Journalism [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/ij4] , Stanford University.

External links

* [http://www.innovaatiot.fi Innovaatiot.fi : The Finnish netsite of Innovation Journalism] by Erkki Kauhanen
* [http://www.innovationjournalism.org Innovation Journalism] The Internet Journal
* [http://innovationjournalism.blogspot.com/ Innovation Journalism] - A blog on journalism, information, public affairs, public relations, media and how it affects us.
* [http://scil.stanford.edu/news/innovation_journalism.htm Innovation Journalism at Stanford Center for Innovations in Learning]
* [http://www.innovationjournalism.si/ Innovation Journalism in Slovenia] - A website of Innovation Journalism's projects and events in Slovenia coordinated by Violeta Bulc and Vibacom team.
* [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/injo-3-2.pdf Innovation Journalism: "Towards Research on the Interplay of Journalism in Innovation Ecosystems"] by Nordfors, Ventresca et.al. (May 2006).
* [http://www.innovaatiot.fi/pmwiki/pub/texts/IJF.pdf Kauhanen & Noppari (2007): Innovation, Journalism and Future (Tekes, Technology review 200/2007)]
* [http://www.ncswa.org/archive/workshops/2004/8innovation.html Northern California Science Writers Association on Innovation Journalism]
* [http://www.innovationjournalism.org/archive/INJO-1-1.pdf The Concept of Innovation Journalism and a Programme for Developing it] by David Nordfors (Oct 2003)