UC Davis experts: Technology, innovation and culture
The following UC Davis faculty members are available to speak on topics related to art.
How companies innovate
Innovations in business borrow existing ideas from different worlds, mix them in news ways, and create supportive communities to nurture them to fruition, says Andrew Hargadon, an associate professor at the Graduate School of Management. Most breakthroughs, Hargadon says, depend on teams of individuals who bring together ideas gleaned from their knowledge and experiences in different realms -- other industries, settings and even hobbies -- and recombine them in new ways. Some companies have found a way to systematize this innovation process, which he calls technology brokering. His book, How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate, was published in 2003 by the Harvard Business School Press. Contact: Andrew Hargadon, Graduate School of Management, (530) 752-227, abhargadon@ucdavis.edu.
Difficulties in adopting new technology
Organizational sociologist Tom Beamish studies how organizations and institutions deal with the environment and technology. Beamish, an assistant professor of sociology, can talk about the difficulties of adopting new technologies and innovative processes. "The cultural and social aspects are, in fact, just as important as the technology itself," Beamish says. He studies barriers to technological innovations within industries. Beamish wrote Silent Spill: The Organization of an Industrial Crisis (2002). Contact: Tom Beamish, Sociology, (530) 754-6897, tdbeamish@ucdavis.edu.
- Karen Nikos, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-6101, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu
Last updated July 27, 2011
