Integral Innovation: New Worldviews

Technology plays a critical role in transforming societies and economies through enhancing efficiency, connectivity and access to resources and services. The challenge remains how to harness technologies to achieve sustainable development without causing harm to human and natural capitals.

Professor Odeh Rashed Al-Jayyousi argues that science, technology and innovation (STI) are underpinned by social choices and, hence, a transition to a sustainable green economy is defined by individuals’ and institutions’ decisions on how to use and apply these STI developments. It is, therefore, important to examine closely the ways in which social institutions and processes in the “integral worlds” (the different perspectives of reality) shape the priorities of technologies and the conditions under which their potential benefits can be reaped. He states that in order for technological innovation to provide a guarantee of sustainable economic development, it is necessary that a transfer of technology to developing countries becomes a basic principle of national development policies, and that they, in turn, are open to adopting an explicit long-term application of technological innovation.

Integral Innovation: New Worldviews presents a conceptual framework for the evolution of technology and innovation from a historical and cultural perspective. It provides an analysis of the role of innovation and technology in sustainable development and introduces a number of international case studies, which shed light on the social learning processes for knowledge co-creation and innovation culture. It is essential reading for those interested in innovation and technology management.

Odeh Rashed Al-Jayyousi has been Professor and Head of Technology Management and Innovation at Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain since September 2015. He was the Vice President for Science and Research at the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan during the period of 2011–2013. He was the Regional Director for the Middle East regional office of IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature (headquartered in Switzerland) – throughout 2004–2011. Previously, he was Dean of Scientific Research and a university professor in Water Resources and Environment during the period of 1994–2004. He was an academic director for the MSc Programme in Transformational Management in the UK. His research interests include water and environmental policy, sustainable development, innovation management, technology foresight, green technology and smart cities. He has published several books including Islam and Sustainable Development (2012) and a book on renewable energy and knowledge sharing in the Arab world (2015). He was granted an award for Scientists and Social Initiatives in 2014.