In this lecture Carolina will share a number of reflections about the research field that she is active in, namely Geography of Innovation. This field is interdisciplinary, yet mostly shaped by economic thinking on innovation.

Innovation is often put forward as the silver bullet solving all kinds of challenges that societies might face. Contemporary geopolitical tensions have only made innovation more prominent in the list of priorities of regions and nations globally. In such plans, innovation often equates with scientific and technological progress and the trust in innovation bears a strong resemblance with the technological optimism or fixation that not so long ago inspired the dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley.

In this lecture Carolina will argue that there is a need for a broader interpretation of what innovation is and what its consequences are. Such efforts can help to reveal innovation in more places but also highlight implications of innovation beyond the places where innovation is developed.

To sustain her point she will reconstruct how innovation has been mapped in space and what the legacy of influential maps has been. Then, further examples and ideas will be shared for more inclusive, richer and more normative maps.

Ultimately, the lecture raises critical questions on the innovation narratives embraced by policymakers and prompts conversations about how to represent, visualize and communicate alternative narratives, either with different data or with different visualization approaches.