Learning for Change: Science Shops – A Phoenix or a Ghost

Thoughts on science shops as a social innovation

Another interesting aspect is the idea of Science Shops as a social innovation. The concept stems from the 70’ties, our oldest case is from 1985. Still many attendants have never heard of the concept. Some Dutch conference attendants (not from the session) even thought it was dead. They linked the movement to the democratization of knowledge, which for them was no longer a problem, and thus science shops were no longer necessary. Their hypothesis was that in other places, like eastern Europe, this is still an issue. So, there science shops are still a necessary social innovation.

One of my immediate thoughts was that the science shops in the Netherlands, a country where science shops were so deeply entrenched that they were mandatory by law, were more inflexible due to this institutional entanglement. Science shops in the UK, Germany, and slowly Scandinavia are spreading again, showing that there is a relevance and need. This goes to show that what and when something is a social innovation is very context dependent, and how entrenchment in institutions might well be a weakness. However, this is a bit of conjecture based on few remarks here and there, but worthwhile to think upon deeper. Science Shops still exist in the Netherlands, another explanation might simply be lack of awareness and visibility. This raises the question why do science shops not have the same type of diffusion as FabLabs or Desis Lab that are so much younger?

In the end, I have several new questions, which makes me happy, as good and critical questions are hard to come up with on my own 😊. It also showed me that this conference instead of being a presentation of the outcome of my case research, is yet another step on the way to fully understand it.