Inclusive innovation and the “ordinary” city: Incidental or integral?

Abstract

Economic opportunity in the 21st century privileges people and places with the “right mix” of human capital to develop and apply digital technologies, and disadvantages those without. Increasing socio-technical, socio-economic, and socio-spatial polarization underscores inclusion as a critically important dimension of innovation. Workforce development and entrepreneurial ecosystems each have implications for “inclusive innovation” in restructuring cities, but understanding their realistic prospects requires attention to local institutional capacity as well as the broader multilevel policy contexts in which they operate. This study compares inclusive innovation programs in Saint-Etienne, France and Greensboro North Carolina, two mid-sized restructuring cities operating in two different macro-institutional settings. Highly variable but not entirely idiosyncratic dynamics emerge in each case; inclusive innovation is integral in Saint Etienne and incidental in Greensboro but not a resounding success in either city. “Top-down” and “bottom-up” dynamics interact in different ways to shape outcomes, but power matters most for local policy choice. The decisive factor is explicit linkage to a commonly accepted urban development agenda that is supported politically by local government. Intermediary organizations lack influence, and the private sector is disengaged. These findings suggest the need to rethink assumptions about the actor configurations that determine urban development priorities.