From ignorance to innovation: Serendipitous and purposeful mobility in creative processes – The cases of biotechnology, legal services and board games

• Published in: Environment and planning. A 2018-11, Vol.50 (8), p.1742-1763
• Main Authors: Brinks, Verena, Ibert, Oliver, Müller, Felix C., Schmidt, Suntje
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0308-518X; 1472-3409
• DOI: 10.1177/0308518X18758327

In this paper, we are concerned with the relationship between creativity, ignorance and mobility. We understand creativity as a social process of recombination, which is strongly shaped by the actors’ lack of knowledge (or: ignorance) and thus argue in favor of a conceptual shift: Instead of analyzing creativity from a knowledge perspective, the analytical focus is on the participants’ evolving ignorance. In a qualitative multiple-case study research of creative processes in three domains, biotechnology, legal services and board game design, we explore the time-spatial dynamics of collaboration under the influence of two distinct forms of ignorance: unrecognized and specified ignorance. Initially, participants do not know what they do not know and are unable to purposefully directed search for inspiration. In this stage, overlapping local opportunities play a significant role to afford serendipitous encounters. Creative processes take a decisive turn, once participants manage to specify their ignorance. It becomes possible to circumscribe missing expertise and to search for it more purposefully – or to intentionally refrain from further inquiry. Now mutual attraction of experts enables interaction across distance. Places deemed irrelevant are circumvented.