81. Process philosophy and innovation

Process philosophy offers an alternative understanding of how innovation happens in practice. The fundamental premise is that reality is fluid and fluxing; change is continuous, relentless and inexorable. Process is reality. Surprise and the emergence of the new are therefore immanent in this processual understanding of reality, and implied in this understanding is the crucial role that social practices play as ongoing, innovative reality-configuring activities. Innovation does not happen as a singular event. Instead, it emerges serendipitously in the bowels of everyday practical coping, grappling with and adjusting to situational demands and affordances. The ‘nova’ of innovation is not simply something new, but the new emerging from the old. Reality itself is continuous innovation. It draws from the past to shape the future. Past, present and future are not discrete moments but each implicates the other. Understood thus, continuous tinkering of established practices is what generates the surprises of innovation.