Innovation and Covid-19: Food for Thought on the Future of Innovation

Virtually all areas of life were plunged into crisis when the Covid-19 pandemic struck in 2020. While innovation offers paths out of the crisis, many aspects of innovation are themselves feeling the effects of it. Against this backdrop, the question is how the Covid-19 pandemic will impact the future of innovation. In the following section, we will examine this by reviewing the “Understanding Change, Shaping the Future. Impulses for the Future of Innovation” paper in a pandemic context. Starting with the relevant trends for innovation systems identified in 2018, and the theses developed on this basis, we would once again like to take you forward in time to 2030. From this vantage point we will look back on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on innovation systems and examine the resulting opportunities and risks in more detail.

Among the trends considered relevant for innovation systems were the digital transformation, the growing complexity of innovation systems, the continuously expanding stakeholder base, a more frequent use of Open Science approaches, and a trend towards the development of holistic and systemic solutions.