NEW PROFESSORSHIP IN ART AND INNOVATION: “We don’t need more ideas – we need meaning”

Innovation is no longer about solving problems, but about understanding which problems are worth solving. In a world overflowing with ideas, Professor Roberto Verganti highlights art as a powerful tool for creating meaningful innovation.

– The difficult thing today is not to find solutions to problems, Chat GPT can do that for us in a flash. The hard part is to understand which problems have value for people, and are therefore worth investing in. And art can help us with that, he says.

Roberto Verganti holds the newly established Josefsson Family Chair in Art and Innovation at the Stockholm School of Economics. He will now build a research center on how art can contribute to innovation in a rapidly changing world.

– Art helps us understand ourselves better and interpret the world in new ways, says Roberto Verganti, highlighting four ways art can contribute to innovation:

• Artists are interpreters – they see and express what is often hidden in society.
• Art evokes emotions – it helps us feel what is important and understand who we are.
• Art helps us express ourselves – it gives language to the meaningful.
• Art connects – for example, through music that touches and unites people.

Art, he says, opens up our empathy – both for ourselves and for others. It helps us understand what actually matters to the people we want to reach.

– When Apple founder Steve Jobs created the iPhone, he didn’t do it because he had the best technology – it was a pretty lousy phone to begin with. Instead, he launched the product with the message: “your whole life in your pocket”. That was the real value, explains Roberto Verganti.

Taking leaders on art tours

He has repeatedly taken business leaders on art tours to get them to think differently about innovation and leadership. On one occasion, Roberto Verganti took a group of executives from a Swedish medical technology company to a New York hospital where their products are used. The walls were covered with modern art, including Andy Warhol. The art had been shown to have a positive impact on doctors’ wellbeing and compassion – which in turn affected their interactions with patients.

– That experience changed business leaders’ views on what makes their products meaningful to customers.

Why is a Chair in Arts and Innovation needed?

– We need to understand the heart’s potential for innovation. Understanding this mechanism better is crucial for entrepreneurs and leaders around the world. Therefore, we need to be able to explain, on a scientific basis, how and why art can contribute to innovation.

– The second track is about understanding more about innovation in the arts. Music is my passion, and I’m looking forward to working with the Swedish music industry to understand more deeply what is happening in the music world now, with AI. Technology doesn’t necessarily have to hurt the industry – on the contrary, digitalization can lift it.

What is your best tip for leaders and entrepreneurs on how to use art in innovation processes?

– Go down to the Venice Biennale with a question you want answered. You are guaranteed to come home with inspiration, says Roberto Verganti.

Contact roberto.verganti@hhs.se

More reading:
Article about Roberto Verganti’s lecture at Esbri Lecture (2017)
Watch lecture