Johanna Nählinder

Where are All the Female Innovators?: Nurses as Innovators in a Public Sector Innovation Project

The individual innovator is seldom seen in innovation research, but there is still an implicit understanding that men are more innovative than women, and that men-dominated occupations are more innovative than women-dominated ones. The female nurse is one among those who are not seen as innovative and few innovation policies target her. In this paper, two of the many factors that determine the alleged lack of innovativeness of women are tested empirically: that women work in occupations which are not associated with innovation; and that women lack the self-confidence to carry out innovative work. Our results show that there are gender differences in favour of women regarding the creativity and innovativeness of employees within the same care sector occupation. Men and women end their innovative efforts for different reasons and the innovativeness of women is sometimes hampered by low self-confidence and low prioritization of work issues over family or household issues. Overall, innovation policies targeting these groups are needed to mobilize otherwise dormant potential innovators.

Understanding innovation in a municipal context: A conceptual discussion

Abstract This paper examines how local government practitioners understand the concept of innovation in a municipal concept. The ‘rainbow economy’ concept is used to distinguish between three different attitudes toward the word innovation among practitioners. One important conclusion is that the poor understanding of innovation among practitioners will strengthen the view of the public sector as non-innovative and incapacitate the concept as a human resources instrument.

‘Östgöta Textile’ an innovative network in a triple helix logic – towards peer incubating

Policies and practices promoting growth in jobs and local/regional economies almost always include the promotion of firms. In the triple helix logic, the promotion of firms can be supported by a cl ...