Traditionally, company experts and outside collaborators innovate by developing the knowledge map. Success or failure of incremental innovation hinges on this path. The Role of Creative Ignorance suggests the knowledge map should be abandoned and replaced with a new methodology, that of creative ignorance. With over 30 years of experience in international economics and entrepreneurship, Piero Formica explores the concept of creative ignorance in combination with path creation and its disruptive effect on entrepreneurship. Using narrative examples of innovators and companies worldwide, he introduces the characteristics of successful path creators that overstep the boundaries set by knowledge maps to open up new, unprecedented routes and connect them each other. In doing so, path creators reveal latent, unexpressed needs of consumers and drive innovation forward.

This book explores the parallels between the Renaissance during the 14th to 16th centuries and the upheavals in human and physical sciences in the 21st Century that herald an insurgent entrepreneurial renaissance. The first Renaissance, conceived and developed in an urban environment, with the Medici family in Florence as pioneers, was a melting pot of art, culture, science and technology. It is in that context that entrepreneurship derived from artisan tradition and, hence, customized, was born to meet the demands and anticipate the needs of individual consumers. Starting with the mechanical technologies of the first industrial revolution, art, culture and science became separated from entrepreneurship. The latter took on Fordist features which depersonalized and, therefore, standardized the producer-consumer relationship. The emerging model of entrepreneurship returns to its origins in customization (e.g., 3D printing technologies, sharing/on-demand economy) strongly linked to the sequence "art-culture-science-technology." The road to a new entrepreneurial renaissance is traveled by cities with creative communities. These communities actively participate in promoting international talent mobility, encouraging connections among the knowledge nomads who move around the world and the resources and talents rooted locally. Brought back to life under the conditions of the current age, entrepreneurship is once again woven into the fabric of art, culture, science and technology, and contributing to civic identity and pride. Featuring case studies from local experts that highlight innovative initiatives and developments in diverse cities around the world, this book aims to stimulate deep thought, theories and applications in the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Ideators: Their Words and Voices presents the concept of ideation and its applications in a thorough yet accessible format, focusing on the process of idea creation, and also presents a series of protagonists of creativity and innovation who will reflect on their own career changes.

By dwelling on the need for the convergence of business, innovation and the arts, this book highlights the value of lowering the psychological, organizational and institutional barriers that keep them apart. For educators and practitioners, this is an in-depth discussion designed to stimulate awareness of the issues facing business education.

This volume offers scholarly perspectives on the creative and humorous nature of the protests at Gezi Park in Turkey, 2013. The contributors argue that these protests inspired musicians, film-makers, social scientists and other creative individuals, out of a concern for the aesthetics of the protests, rather than seizure of political power.

Econaissance intertwines Economics, Knowledge and Renaissance to anticipate the dawn of a new age that acts on the principles of human knowledge and the economy, and sheds light on the culture of entrepreneurialism, too often kept in the shadows.

Outlining an integrative theory of knowledge, Francisco Javier Carrillo explores how to understand the underlying behavioural basis of the knowledge economy and society. Chapters highlight the notion that unless a knowledge-based value creation and distribution paradigm is globally adopted, the possibilities for integration between a sustainable biosphere and a viable economy are small.

Public Choice Economics and the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria provides an economics perspective on the witchcraft episode, and adds to the growing body of work analyzing prominent historical events using the tools of economics.

Shin Kanemaru (1914-1996) served as a key power broker at the national level in Japan from the 1970s until the early 1990s. He was at the heart of the '1955 system' of conservative political rule. Though never Prime Minister himself, he controlled or strongly influenced the administrations of five Japanese Prime Ministers.

The alternative investment market (AIM) has seen rapid growth over its 19 years, and has emerged as the market of choice for smaller, newer companies, both in the UK and abroad. However, it has often had a volatile reputation among investors, who have commonly perceived stock in the AIM as more risky than the main market. In this book, a group of leading financial analysts conduct an extensive empirical study to compare the relative volatility of two UK equity markets run by the London Stock Exchange, over a ten year period. They analyse the comparative risks involved in the alternative investment market, the market of growing companies, and the 'main market', the market for more established companies. This book analyses the volatility of the alternative investment market, using a variety of techniques and approaches. It compares the volatility of stocks in the markets, exploring variables such as size, industry, age and market switches. Using refined methods to focus on the difference between the markets, the authors provide a convincing study to challenge the idea that the alternative investment market is higher risk than the main market.