Funding Agency: Ministry of Education/ University
Funding Program: PRIN 2022
Project Code: 2022MCWT4Y
Abstract:
Innovators’ struggle to rally key audiences’ support around their novel ideas, products, or projects is a central theme in the innovation and entrepreneurship literature. This struggle is intrinsic to the paradoxical nature of novelty. On the one hand, creating something genuinely new requires breaking out of existing categories, often by recombining them in atypical ways. However, the outcomes of atypical recombination are less likely to be meaningfully and positively recognized by relevant audiences.
The challenge faced by innovators seeking to rally support for their ideas is especially acute in those situations where evaluative responses occur in the absence of any tangible product and/or before
reputational information becomes available to relevant audiences. In fact, the diffusion of any innovation is a social effort and eminently an outcome of communicative acts -oral or written.
We focus on three distinct but related empirical settings where language is a crucial cultural resource mobilized by innovators as they interact with relevant audiences: pitch competitions, online crafting, and TED talks. These settings have unique features that make them particularly suitable for analytically unpacking the themes presented above.
DiSA Role: Principal Investigator
DiSA Team Leader: Simone Ferriani
DISA Team members: Vincenza Odorici, Raffaele Corrado, Mariachiara Colucci
Project Partners: Università Ca' Foscari di Venezia
Total project cost: 271,228 €
Start date: 28/09/2023 - End date: 27/09/2025