The social uses of the innovation concept. A qualitative approach to the discursive logics for the access to and use of information, communication and knowledge in Andalusia

Abstract

In the semantic architecture of the society of knowledge the innovation concept is the fundamental base. It allows constructing very different discourses, frequently opposed, in what the purpose of its social use concerns. This article presents a qualitative investigation regarding the motivation for access and use of information and knowledge in Andalucía (Spain). The analysis of efforts of the Andalusian administration to promote the economy of knowledge supposes an opportunity to show the contingency in the reduction of the digital divide on the ground of citizen participation. It proposes a qualitative approach to the knowledge production, management and socialization in Andalusia derived from a research of personal interviews. Our conclusions indicate how the link with the social development is a priority in the case of the small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as for the social organizations and social movements. It underlines the logic of the economic development in the great companies oriented to technological innovation in the European Union research laboratory, and in the Andalusian government organ dedicated to innovation, science and business. In the university, and the public research institutes area the main goal is research. Three positions are identified, the traditional, which is reluctant to the processes of incorporating information and knowledge, the one that finds in the innovation concept the main motor of the Andalusian system of knowledge and the one that is closely connected with equality and social emancipation.