Image, Imperatives, and Ideology in the Innovation Industry

Innovation in late capitalism is more than just an economic dynamic. It is also something that can be commodified and sold as cultural representations such as keynotes and business books, and in this chapter I critically analyze such representations. I further inquire into how “the innovation industry” presents and represents innovation, how innovations imperatives emerge and are enhanced, and how these processes form to normalize and naturalize notions of innovation, to the point where innovation becomes an ideology. Drawing on both auto-ethnographic work in the innovation industry, critical theory, and cultural studies, I here argue for the need for more critical engagement with both innovation as a valorized concept and its evangelists.