 Care-led Innovation. A New Paradigm and an Application in the Japanese Context of Society 5.0Sébastien Lechevalier ()
Chapter 9 in Capitalism, Innovations, and Health after Covid-19, 2026, pp 313-361 from Springer Abstract: Abstract The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the concept of “care-led innovation” as well as some examples. Although its ambition goes much beyond the Japanese context, we recognize that it has emerged from an in-depth discussion of the transformation of the Japanese models of innovation and of capitalism and its limits. Japan has experienced since the early 1990s a multifold crisis that has led to put in question its former models of capitalism and innovation. After many trials and errors, it seems that from the mid-2010s, new models of capitalism and of innovation are emerging. More precisely, we introduce and critically appraise the Society 5.0 vision promoted by the Japanese government, as a way of overcoming the conventional Neo-Schumpeterian model of innovation that had been in crisis. Society 5.0 marks a potential major break in helping us think about postindustrial economies and societies, beyond industry 4.0. In parallel, but more recently, concepts of sustainable/new capitalism have been introduced by the major employer association and the Japanese government, with the purpose of addressing some of the key challenges of our time. However, we show that some major obstacles remain on the road towards the establishment of Society 5.0 and new/sustainable capitalism. This is why we introduce the new paradigm of care-led innovation as a way to realize Society 5.0 and to make capitalism more sustainable. It allows us specifying the characteristics in the models of innovation and of capitalism that are required to achieve Society 5.0, in general and in health-related issues in particular. While socioeconomics of innovation and STS are the primary disciplinary lenses that are utilized for this chapter, the theoretical perspective is also influenced by the Régulation theory in its analysis of crisis and of capitalism. The chapter proposes a non-Schumpeterian view on innovation, and also incorporates systems thinking. In terms of methodology and sources, we provide an overview of public policy evolution over the last two decades and conducted an institutional analysis of innovation policies in Japan, based on official reports and using theoretical contributions. We also include some case studies of care-led innovation, which we have been directly involved in and/or we could have privileged access to. Date: 2026 There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-032-24479-6_9 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-24479-6_9 Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Springer Books from Springer |
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