CRISIS-DRIVEN INNOVATION: THE CASE OF HUMANITARIAN INNOVATION

John Bessant, Howard Rush and Anna Trifilova
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John Bessant: University of Exeter, United Kingdom
Howard Rush: #x2020;University of Brighton, CENTRIM, United Kingdom
Anna Trifilova: University of Exeter, United Kingdom‡University of Saint Petersburg, Universitetskay Nabereshnaya, 7/9 Saint Petersburg 199034, Russia

International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), 2015, vol. 19, issue 06, 1-17

Abstract: Innovation is often presented as a survival issue and this provides a powerful metaphor to focus attention on the need to manage it effectively. But in the humanitarian context it takes on a very literal meaning. Crises, whether natural or man-made, require rapid problem solving if agencies and aid workers are to avoid the huge negative impacts of such disasters.That makes consideration of how innovation takes place in this sector an urgent challenge. How can the humanitarian sector best organise to enable innovation and what are the roles for key actors — donors, agencies, and most importantly ‘users’? Our paper summarises the nature of the challenge and reviews experience so far in humanitarian innovation (HI).There is a second issue which we also explore. Arguably crisis conditions provide a “laboratory” for exploring alternative approaches and generating novel innovation trajectories which might diffuse more widely — the concept of “reverse innovation.” Are there lessons which could be learned for mainstream innovation management? And if so, what are the mechanisms which might enable such learning and experience exchange to take place?

Keywords: Humanitarian innovation; crisis-driven innovation; reverse innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1142/S1363919615400149

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