Illuminating the dark sides of innovation: toward an economic geography of controversial innovation
Abstract
Abstract This paper pluralizes the “dark side of innovation” discourse through a fourfold taxonomy: false positives, negative externalities, false negatives, and undone positives. As these dimensions reflect the contested nature of innovations, controversy is framed as an opportunity to (re)direct novelty toward societal welfare. Central to this redirection is an economic geography of controversial innovation, highlighting the tension between exnovating “destructive creation” and enabling the “creative destruction” of alternative futures. Spatial Pockets of Innovation are conceptualized as geographical places of peripheral opportunity, offering the cushioning and institutional slack required to develop, scrutinize, and legitimize contested and unconventional novelty.
Fields of Study & Subjects
University-Industry-Government Innovation Models
Innovation
Technology
and Society
Innovation and Socioeconomic Development
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Journal of Economic Geography
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 663-677
- Publication date
- 30 March 2026
- Language
- EN