Announcing the VINNOVA Stanford Research Center of Innovation Journalism

PALO ALTO, 19 Jan 2009. We are pleased to announce the VINNOVA Stanford Research Center of Innovation Journalism, founded by H-STAR institute (Human-Sciences Advanced Research institute) of Stanford University and VINNOVA (the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems).

Starting in January 2009, this new research center at Stanford pursues human-sciences and technology research in areas that will impact and promote the development of innovation journalism, i.e. journalistic coverage of innovation processes and ecosystems. This involves looking at how journalism influences innovation, how innovation influences journalism, and the ability of journalism to recognize and cover innovation. It will build a network of researchers in innovation journalism by hosting visiting scholars from Sweden and inviting researchers from other countries to join.

The new center will take over the operation of the Stanford-based Innovation Journalism Fellowship Program. The world's first fellowship program in innovation journalism, which was initiated by VINNOVA in 2003 and has been located at Stanford since 2004. Each year selected journalists participate in workshops and conferences at Stanford and collaborate with newsrooms across the U.S. in covering innovation. The program has so far hosted journalists from Sweden, Finland, and Pakistan, with support from several sources.

VINNOVA will provide the initial funding of the center; additional sponsors will be sought to continue and expand the Center's activities.

The founding director of the new Center is Dr. Stig Hagström, Professor (Emeritus) in the School of Engineering at Stanford and former Chancellor of the Swedish university system. Its founding Executive Director is Dr. David Nordfors, who coined the term “innovation journalism” and set up the first Innovation Journalism initiatives, in Sweden and at Stanford.

H-STAR is a Stanford interdisciplinary research center focusing on people and technology - how people use technology, how to better design technology to make it more usable (and more competitive in the marketplace), how technology affects people's lives, and the innovative use of technologies in research, education, art, business, commerce, entertainment, communication, national security, and other walks of life.

VINNOVA is a Swedish State authority that aims to promote growth and prosperity throughout Sweden. Its particular area of responsibility comprises innovations linked to research and development. The agency funds research that supports a competitive business and industrial sector to maintain a flourishing society, and seeks to strengthen networks that contribute to these goals.