Seppo Poutanen

Gendering innovation process in an industrial plant – revisiting tokenism, gender and innovation

Purpose – This article provides an analysis of the gendering process in product innovation. Interwoven into this process is the encapsulation of a token position. The article expands and deepens the tokenism theory through a discussion of gender in the innovation process. The article draws from recent and classical theories of gender, ranging from gendering approaches to Ackers theory of gendered organisations and processes within organisations, and Moss Kanters tokenism theory. The main objective of the article is to address this gap in the tokenicsm discussion and introduce a new concept of “processual tokenism”. Design/methodology/approach – The article builds on an intensive single case study and uses a narrative methodology and approach in the analysis of the data of the case in question. The primary data used in the narratives consist of interview data. The article also uses documents and reports as secondary data in the narrative construction. The approach used is theoretical, interpretative and ...

The first genetic screening in Finland: Its execution, evaluation and some possible implications for liberal government

This paper first describes how genetic screening was launched in Finland. The recommendations of researchers for improving the execution of future screenings are then used to lead into a demonstration of a certain decision-making method as a possible tool for carrying out these improvements. In the latter part, the Finnish pilot screening is seen as an emerging form of liberal government. Specific problems faced by such a government in the case of genetic screening are outlined and discussed, and the decision-making method mentioned is related to this context.

Epistemic Communities Facing a New Type of Agora? Centres of Science, Technology and Innovation as Defining the New Research Landscape in Finland

We analyse the question of what role and positions epistemic communities have in the agora, and more specifically in the new mediating organizations that are established at the interface of the state, businesses and universities. These new organizational structures embody the present politics of knowledge that reign in national science policy globally. The new organizational structures, as potentially new agoras, also epitomize several of the changes that have taken place in the science and industry landscape of the past decades all over Europe and the world. We are interested in understanding how epistemic communities are situated vis-à-vis agora in knowledge production. The empirical example comes from Finland, where major new institutional reforms in science policy, the new strategic centres of science, technology and innovations, have been implemented to create possibilities for new knowledge creation and new product and service development. These centres of science, technology and innovations (CSTIs) were originally planned as functioning agoras, open, simultaneous and joint platforms for the state, businesses, researchers and universities. In the article we show how the organizational structure and decision making processes adopted in the CSTIs have changed the original idea of agora, thus changing also the position of epistemic communities involved. In the process, we evaluate Nowotnys interpretation of agora.

On-Demand Work in Platform Economy: Implications for Sustainable Development

The global importance of crowd or on-demand work via digital platforms is increasing. Platform enterprises create and manage two- or many-sided markets by enabling suppliers and buyers of services meet in a flexible and scalable way, creating new economic efficiencies. However, platform work may also increase invisibility, uncertainty, risks, and competition for workers [2]. This paper investigates the sustainability of on-demand work through a dynamic analysis of the resources available to workers when facing an abrupt change in their work organization. Our empirical case is a platform-driven food courier company in the Helsinki region, Finland. We discuss the resources we found in the light of the immunity, control and fungibility mechanisms that lead to both opportunities and vulnerabilities for the on-demand workers [9]. The paper yields practice-based empirical insights of how immunity, control and fungibility are experienced by workers, and thus add our understanding of the often invisible and dark side of on-demand work. At the end, we present our conclusions regarding research on sustainable development.

Creative Work and Gender

What is considered to be creative work? Is creative work always recognizable as in artistic work, or is it something where inventions come into being, or simply any task at hand? How does creativity construct individual identity, especially work identity? And how does gender become defined in creative work leading to innovations? Creativity is in some ways surely part of every work task and its performance, from even the most repetitive and standardized job tasks to the most unpredictable problem solving and unique artistic performances. Given this wide definition, the value and importance of creative work in the contemporary economy is omnipresent. This concerns the gendered nature of creative work in relation to innovations also: the technological solutions we have discussed in earlier chapters, from the washing machine to the fitness and wearable technologies, show how embedded creativity is in the innovation, design and production of material and immaterial goods and services. This chapter examines the complexities of gender, technology, care and creativity in contemporary work and economy.

Envisioning the Future

Throughout the book, we have examined the multiple and multi-level connections and ties between gender and innovations, and different manifestations of these relations and connections in the new economy. The example cases taken range from the very early innovations that had direct effects on gendered everyday lives and on the recent developments in personal innovations, from gaming to platforms and complex gendered innovations with immaterial digital and material inventions. For most large corporations, the prevailing corporate culture is seldom an inventive culture as such. An inventive culture, however, carries possibilities for new and radical innovations and in their possibly revolutionary abilities to change everyday lives and practices. The possibilities for new breakthroughs and economic gains in an employee-driven corporate innovation culture are immense. The question of gender and innovations becomes defined anew, as employee-driven innovations in platforms take place in broader organizational and global contexts. This book has synthesized knowledge on the initiatives and mechanisms that contribute to improved understanding of gender and innovations. This chapter draws together and summarizes some of the main issues discussed throughout the book in the previous chapters.

New Economy, Platform Economy and Gender

The new economy has developed rapidly in recent years with the groundbreaking technological innovations. In that development, the effects of the platform economy, sharing economy and gig economy on the gendered dimensions of work are growing. The chapter discusses the multilayered relationships between the old and the new economies, considers global significance of the rising platforms and gig economies and the gendered changes they push forward, and looks where the innovations are currently made in this age of digitalization. The interconnectedness of the world creates new opportunities for the local and regional economies. However, the new economy has gendered structures of its own, which affect availability of the new assets, such as venture capital. This chapter sheds light also on the unintended gender consequences of the new economy.

Gender in Inventions and Innovations

The chapter first highlights the long history of how gender has become involved in the invention of the household appliances, for example washing machine. The complex relationships between household economy and market economy are here detailed, showing the presence of economy even in mundane household activities. Next, the pervasive gender inequalities in science, research and technology are put into a global focus from the perspective of patenting activities, in both academic and business contexts. Some remedies for improving women’s relatively weak position concerning the gendered nature of patenting activities are then evaluated. Need to reform educational systems from early childhood education to academy is obvious, but strong and general cultural association of STEM subjects with masculinity makes the task difficult. Lastly, widening the field to include, for example, social innovations directs attention to complex questions of research policy and gender.

Innovations, Gender and the New Economy

Technology and its different adaptations are the key fields for the contemporary innovations. Within technology, the forward-thinking and new openings are highly promoted in contemporary societies. Innovations such as games and the whole gaming industries are at the core business sectors in the new digitalized platform economy. Yet, much of the development in technical initiatives and technology is ignorant of gender issues, and in many corporations minority of tech employees are women. The several initiatives, courses and prizes around the globe, initiated by women and by organizations, to activate girls to become interested in technology design and to become game designers and programmers are discussed in the chapter. The Internet of things transforms our everyday lives through consumption and brings new challenges for gender analysis with its ostensibly gender-neutral operations. The chapter discusses some of the recent aspects of wearable technologies and Internet of Things in relation to gender and innovations.