Research Seminar with Mario Pansera

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Reims

A research seminar led by Mario Pansera, a Distinguished Researcher from Universidade de Vigo and Affiliated Researcher at the Autonoma University of Barcelona.

About this presentation:

The feasibility and desirability of endless economic growth is being increasingly questioned by scholars and activists. While envisioning alternative economic models is key to assure the sustainability and wellbeing of present and future generations, few studies have analysed what might be the role of ‘innovation’ in a post-growth era.

Innovating has become an imperative for the survival and expansion of any form of organisation. But this ‘innovate or die mania’ underpins assumptions – such as technological determinism and productivism - that neglect the socially constructed character of technological development, its politics and its capacity to enable (or disable) just and equitable societies.

In this seminar we posit that untangling innovation from growth is key to imagine a postgrowth era. We show how alternative bottom-up initiatives, promoted by a variety of different organisational forms, have challenged mainstream ideas about innovation and growth. These experiments provide a glimpse about what ‘innovation without growth’ could mean in terms of technology and social organization. We conclude by proposing new paths in research aimed at exploring under which conditions post-growth-oriented organisations can flourish and diffuse.