From innovation versus equity to innovation and equity

Walter W Powell

Industrial and Corporate Change, 2026, vol. 35, issue 1, 261-265

Abstract: The essays in the special issue reframe the relationship between innovation and equity, not as opposing objectives but as mutually constitutive design choices. Drawing together contributions at the levels of the workplace, city, region, and nation, they emphasize how outcomes depend less on market or technological inevitabilities than on practices situated in places. The essays converge on the insight that innovation systems are inherently political, shaped by institutions, governance, and collective action. Yet they also surface unsettled questions: how equity at one scale may undermine it at another, how to govern multi-actor systems such as data and surveillance, how to stabilize inclusive arrangements over time, and how to measure intangible assets and civic participation alongside wages or GDP. The task ahead is to design across levels, institutions, and metrics to recognize equity not as a constraint but as a source of resilience.

Date: 2026
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