Why innovation alone won't save small towns | Marlise Horvath Schneider | TEDxNuremberg

Quick Overview

The speaker argues that innovation policy alone, such as the CHIPS Act funding for Upstate New York, fails to revitalize struggling regions because it neglects the crucial element of societal engagement, proposing a shift from the Triple Helix Model to a Quadruple Helix Model that explicitly includes society to ensure that economic growth translates into tangible benefits like better education, healthcare, and housing for local residents.

Key Points: The speaker grew up in Cherry Valley, NY, a rural area in Upstate New York characterized by economic decline, low high school graduation rates (33 students in her class of 41), and poverty. The current innovation policy, exemplified by the CHIPS Act providing billions to re-shore semiconductor fabrication facilities, risks creating an isolated ecosystem that benefits only industry and government without uplifting the local community. The speaker advocates for replacing the Triple Helix Model (Government, University, Industry) with a Quadruple Helix Model that adds 'Society' as a fourth essential stakeholder to drive regional innovation and transformation. The failure of current policies is exemplified by the fact that Upstate New York politicians told residents to leave for jobs elsewhere, showing a lack of investment in local human capital. The speaker’s PhD project focuses on lost regions of innovation, analyzing why places like Silicon Valley become hubs while others lag behind despite similar policy efforts. The goal of the Quadruple Helix is to ensure that regional transformation, driven by innovation, results in tangible improvements in social welfare metrics like housing, education, healthcare, and community engagement for the local population. The speaker concludes by emphasizing that the Quadruple Helix Model ensures that policies benefit the people who live there, creating a future they desire.

Context: This TEDx talk by Marlise Horvath Schneider addresses the challenge of regional revitalization in areas like Upstate New York, often referred to as Rust Belt regions, which suffer from economic stagnation, out-migration, and poor social welfare indicators. The speaker contrasts the highly successful innovation ecosystem of Silicon Valley with the struggles of her home region, arguing that current innovation policies, exemplified by the massive government funding through the CHIPS Act, are insufficient because they focus narrowly on technology and industry without integrating the needs and voices of the local society.