This article is written by Marlieke Kieboom (MA, MSc), a Dutch anthropologist and service designer in the British Columbia Public Service in Canada, Turtle Island.
Two decades ago, the mere thought of enjoying a book on mathematics would have made my teenage self cringe. Yet, here I am singing praise to an unusual, yet magical book with mathematical foundations: ‘Innovation Beyond Fiction: An Imaginative Play with Mathematics’ (2022, Cambridge Scholars Publishing) by Mathias Béjean.
It’s in this space that innovators become “intermediates”: people who work in between facts and fiction.
Béjean is a French scientist who works at the intersection of mathematics, design and strategic management. His unique book aims to explore a deeply philosophical question: how does invention or “creation” manifest, and can its emergence be “organised” or “managed”? The author takes the reader on a spectacular ride through 150 pages of fiction (part 1), conversation (part 2) and research (part 3). What can mathematics teach public servants about innovation in highly bureaucratic environments?
Making complex thought accessible
Hardcore maths isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. To make mathematical theory more accessible, Mathias Béjean has done something truly unique: he wrote an intriguing 90-page poetic novel, accompanied by illustrations meant to inspire our imagination (by Laure Garreau and Fabrice Cochet). In ‘The Innovator’s Odyssey: Mathematics for Innovation’, Béjean’s theory comes to life as we follow the main character, Eno Vaytor. Eno, a quirky and creative inventor, is invited to come work for ‘Ingeniosa’, a brilliant, fast-growing engineering company that struggles to stay innovative in the post-start-up phase. Eno is tasked with designing the “next big thing” but gets hopelessly stuck in thick layers of bureaucratic middle management. Can one stay creative and innovative in an environment that stifles disruption and “reduces invention to a series of scientific deductions with no input from imagination?”, he wonders.
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Disappointed and discouraged, our poor innovator takes a break to find answers to his quest. On his journey, he stumbles on the works of philosophers, mathematicians, and … artists. Armed with newfound insight, Eno returns to Ingeniosa to discover the company’s shift towards “agile” methodologies. Collaborating with a newly arrived “design” colleague, Eno explores various approaches through which an organisation like Ingeniosa can successfully establish nurturing structures capable of upholding innovation within a maturing organisation.
The second part of the book contains an extensive interview between Béjean and a fellow arts and business professor, unravelling characters, plotlines and the author's motivation behind crafting both a fictional novel and an academic article that speaks to innovation from a mathematical lens. Finally, part 3 contains the (dry and complex) academic article by Mathias and his collaborator, French mathematician Andrée Ehresmann, in which they discuss their mathematical and theoretical approach to innovation, specifically applying “category theory” in Design Memory Evolutive Systems (D-MES).
Illustration 1: Eno Vaytor
Illustration 2: The “superintendents” (middle managers)
Key insights: unimaginable pathways forward
Even though the story and theory mostly apply to business innovation, the book holds valuable insights for public sector innovators who aim to collaboratively design inventions and public policies in highly bureaucratic environments.
The fusion of art, fiction, conversation and theory sparks not only the imagination of the readers but also renders an otherwise complex academic article accessible to a wider audience.
First, the book reveals key elements in innovation processes that need to be kept “alive” indefinitely, according to Béjean. He mentions taking a non-linear view on the concept of “time” and the importance of staying “incomplete”. Béjean also highlights the role of “immersion”: step into the flow of an experience and swim in the current for a while. It’s in this space that innovators become “intermediates”: people who work in between facts and fiction. Immersion then readies people to explore the fundamentals of “imagination”.
Central to Béjean's thesis is the intertwining of inner and outer “consciousness”, forming an intangible, collective yet connective “tissue” or “memory” that can be harnessed for innovation.
Practically speaking, this means: contemplate and talk more about what you are thinking and what motivates you to others, both inside and outside your organisation. Collective “imagining” can form previously unimaginable pathways forward. The book propounds the creation of “thought experiments” by collaborating with designers (do-ers), technologists (makers), academics (thinkers), artists (provocateurs) and citizens (users-clients) when crafting something new.
Within these experiments, Mathias cautions against succumbing to the notion of a standardised or rigid “methodology” for innovation. He proposes to use both rationale and emotion to explore the relationships between reason and sensibility. This might sound like a no-go for public servants, given their public oath to swear to be “neutral” and thus be somewhat emotionless. Mathias’ work offers a way out of this conundrum: don’t get stuck in one role. Instead, create multiple “Playfields of the Imagination” – and connect them together in what Eno Vaytor calls a “Free Thinkware Movement”.
To conclude: design follows concept
This book is a delight to dive into, even when you are not a mathematician. The format of the book artfully manifests Béjean's hypothesis that design should mirror the underlying theory, exemplifying “design follows concept” over the more known design principle “form follows function”. The fusion of art, fiction, conversation and theory sparks not only the imagination of the readers but also renders an otherwise complex academic article accessible to a wider audience. The eclectic cast of characters and surprising plot twists keep the reader intrigued.
‘Innovation beyond Fiction’ is also remarkable for underscoring the nexus between ecology, philosophy, strategic management and innovation. Eno embodies the human mind’s capacity to conceive, to invent the new. The book will therefore especially appeal to practitioners who, like Eno, like to spend time in the “Land of Problems” instead of the “Land of Solutions”. Can we “think” our way out of the complexity of modern humanity?
Illustration: The Land of Problems
Its many plot twists and deep layers of meaning do not make for a light read, but the characters and the use of dry humour throughout make up for it. The wild cast also makes it easy to forgive Béjean for leaning somewhat heavily on mostly Western-oriented theory and philosophy, foregoing a rich history of Indigenous and non-Western thinkers that preceded the “enlightened” cohort on thinking about ecology and cyclical, interrelated “ways of being”. Béjean’s references to works from Chilean neuroscientists Francesco Varela and Humberto Maturana provide balance.
To conclude, ‘Innovation beyond Fiction’ is best digested over time. Let its ideas mature for a while. The moment where the matter “clicks” is the moment where you start recognising the book’s characters in your own work context, such as “the Superintendents” (middle managers) or “the Voice” (a hip “user experience” designer). Then the lines start blurring… What is fiction, what is theory, what is reality and what is your imagination? Ultimately, ‘Innovation beyond Fiction’ is a tribute to the boundless capacity of the human mind to conceive and create. Enjoy the ride.
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(Image credit: Unsplash)
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