Innovation and the Neoliberal Idioms of Development

> “Innovation”: a ubiquitous word with a slippery meaning.

“An innovation is a novelty that sticks,” writes Michael North in Novelty: A History of the New, pointing out the basic ontological problem of the word: if it sticks, it ceases to be a novelty.

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I find that the current usage of the word innovation is largely meaningless. As a word, it has a great ‘brand’ (reputation? cachet? connotation?) but in 90-95% of the uses and contexts I hear it in, its usage is so vague as to be almost meaningless.

See also: agile, privacy, feedback.