Talking Radical Innovation with Prof. Koen Frenken

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We had the pleasure of welcoming innovation scholar Prof. Koen Frenken from Utrecht University at our research group for one day.

Over breakfast, our early career researchers presented their current research to Frenken, from research on institutions and innovation, over the governance of natural resources, the connection between regional development and public procurement in Latin America, and economic impact analyses. In a lively discussion, Frenken challenged ideas, shared experiences from his own research and offered new perspectives – inspiring our young researchers for their academic endeavours.

In the afternoon, the Professor presented his current work on radical innovation in our weekly Research Seminar. He looked at innovation from an institutional perspective using categorization theory: He regards different types of innovation as process of social categorizing, which are linked to certain expectations and valuations that set the direction of innovation. On this account, Koen presented a framework, encompassing the notions of incremental, breakthrough, disruptive, and radical innovation based on their novelty, valuation, and pattern. With an engaging and extensive discussion that stretched over dinner we ended the day.

A heartfelt thank you to Koen Frenken for spending the day with us, for your perspectives, valuable input and thought-provoking ideas! It was a pleasure having you in the LMU Department of Geography and we hope to meet again soon!

Read more on Prof. Koen Frenken's work on Radical Innovation:

Frenken K, & Punt MB (2023). A new view on radical innovation. In International Sustainability Transitions conference, Utrecht, the Netherlands.(Download)