The first in a regular series of posts highlighting a selection of recent articles and stories on creativity, innovation, culture and the like….
Innovation
Kevin Baughan, a senior Director at Innovate UK, on how Technology – in ‘re-creating itself’ – drives innovation. I found this a bit depressing.
https://innovateuk.blog.gov.uk/2016/05/10/shaping-the-future/
I am grateful to Matt Locke at Storythings for this rather quirky little piece on how to create an innovation centre:
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3046437/5-steps-to-recreate-xerox-parcs-design-magic-from-the-guy-who-helped-make-it
The Arts and Tech programme, which I am working on with Arts Council England, Innovate UK and the KTN, is generating some great insights. This one is on the value of the ‘research’ being undertaken in places like the Waag in Amsterdam and Watershed in Bristol:
https://medium.com/@Arts_and_Tech/arts-research-in-the-21st-century-93e2a1e0cdc1#.k9mumv2iz
A short blog piece from NESTA on how Government can support disruptive innovation:
http://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/demi-small-policy-encourage-disruptive-innovation
New Mayor of London
As we went to polls in London, this seemed relevant. Tom Campbell on the collapsing economic and social infrastructure for arts and creative people in the capital:
https://grahamhitchen.com/2014/02/18/london-a-deliberate-disaster/
Meanwhile, here’s Nico MacDonald’s pitch to the new London Mayor:
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/lets-harness-londons-creativity/
And here’s a view on what the London Mayor needs to do for the Tech community:
http://linkis.com/newstatesman.com/kNLyf
Basic Income
I’m really taken with the idea that the Basic Income could become a 21st Century version of the old Enterprise Allowance Scheme, whereby people are given money by the state to try and do something creative. I’ll have a go at writing that idea up at some stage but, in the mean time, here’s a great piece explaining the thinking behind and potential of simply ‘giving people money’:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/universal-basic-income/
Gentrification in East London
The arts are often part of a process of social transformation in cities. As this piece – which reflects on the experience of a housing association commissioning artists – this is not always a good thing:
http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/may/13/hipsters-artists-gentrification-social-cleansing-developers
Kinsella in his hole
Each fortnight I recommend a piece of creative writing. Here’s a very readable short story by Hilary Mantel:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n10/hilary-mantel/kinsella-in-his-hole
Graham Hitchen 