Abstract

Of interest in this chapter is the search for the wider sourcing of creative ability because traditional methods have failed to solve a variety of problems – social, political, daily life, family, economic, cultural, and religious – which as unconventional and practical applications become innovations. How multidimensional the abilities to tackle them are also depends on the ability to develop innovation. In view of the growing importance of gender studies, the conditions indicated should include another one, namely gender. And the concept of Innovative Gender has been accepted, ascribing to women and men equal measure, opportunities and situations included in the model of the innovation genome. The starting point of the Innovative Gender study is to build four dedicated matrices filled with information (variables) describing a given area including gender, among which the crucial one is cooperation.

Key words: creativity, innovation, innovativeness, innovative gender

Introduction

In spite of the diagnosis that the European Union is burdened with a triple crisis – of substance, trust and power (Kukliński, 2011) – leading to its institutional weakening on the global stage as an innovator, the growing predominance of thinking via procedures, and the expansion of the overwhelming control limiting freedom of choice, more offensives and strategies to intensify the development of research and innovation in all Member States are constantly being created. The failure to achieve the goals of the Lisbon Strategy is explained by a lack of political will and the conviction of heads of state that the objectives were too ambitious and that they lacked a cohesive policy between the whole European Union and the strategies of individual Member States, which is further compounded by the poor state of public finances in many EU countries and the crisis of 2008. A kind of “extension” of the Lisbon strategy is the Europe 2020 Innovation Union, and in particular the use of the procedure to shift the trust and support of innovative activity to the regions. Will yet another programme free EU innovation from its “straitjacket” (Green Paper on Innovation, 1995)?