Who is Driving the Innovation? From Tech Alarmism to Digital Alternatives

INCA partners Niccolò Cuppini (University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland) and Maurilio Pirone (University of Bologna) will present INCA’s results on the Sociology Research Seminar organized by FSAS-UBB on March 14th.

The dominant contemporary paradigm of technological transformation assumes that a few giant companies have a monopoly on innovation, while people are threatened by mass surveillance and States can simply regulate the market. For this reason, Big Tech has gained overwhelming power nowadays, resembling more and more modern commercial empires. Citizens can only attempt to limit such power embedded in corporate technological supremacy.

Nevertheless, for many years, digital technologies have been the subject of several narratives and attempts aiming to democratize technological innovation as a tool for a fairer society, from cybernetic experiments in the Allende’ Chile to the gift economy of hacker culture.

Drawing upon the results of our ongoing INCA project, our partners will present a genealogy of digital transformations from the 1960s to the present day to highlight how technological innovation has become increasingly financialized and centralized. They will analyze the different political options toward the organization of digital innovation, arguing that more than simply limiting the power of Big Tech, it would be fundamental to regain control over the planning and design of technology.