Writing as Crystallization: Innovation Beyond Linearity and Speed

This paper is concerned with innovation and inspired by crystallization as a methodological and textual practice. It does not solely claim crystallization as a framework for researching innovation, but in its multi-faceted perspectives and vocabulary seeks to do crystallization, that is, to represent and perform innovation. This endeavor is necessarily multi-temporal in the sense that the parts are not assembled to produce a linear argument or narrative. They do not come together nicely in the end, and yet they perform an antidote to manageable, hurried innovation. As such, it should be read as a counter to the idea that innovation can be forced forward, and equally as an invitation to take time and make space for ideas, thoughts, and problems to meander and for inspiration to come from unexpected sources, in innovation efforts and in research. Some readers may be inspired to write and add more partial perspectives, thus contributing to ongoing knowledge creation about “innovation” and “writing” and the abundance of ways in which the two can combine.