Introduction

This space is devoted to the anthropology of innovation and strives to offer both a service to the readers and a scientific contribution. The aim is precisely to try and define this relatively unexplored and undefined field, drawing the readers' attention to related publications and web sites.

The first post [2] is a paper presented at the Annual meeting of the Association of Social Anthropologists in 2005 at Aberdeen University, on behalf of Bergamo University and of Fondazione Bassetti. It is a first example of an ethnographic case study which hinges on local strategies of innovation, whilst connecting with broader reflections on innovation and responsibility on a global scale.

This space wishes to develop a second aspect, related to the construction of a bibliography and a web site archive on the anthropological aspects of innovation and responsibility, connecting the local dimension to the global aspects of innovation. For instance, there will be references to local products and local development, but also to the concepts and tools that have been developed in the ethnographic research on communities of practice (Lave, Wenger), on creative communities (Florida), on attention economy (Davenport and Beck), and on Audit cultures (Strathern).

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