Innovation and Entrepreneurs: Creative Destruction and Destructive Creation’

In recent years the innovator has invariably been seen as an entrepreneur, wedded to a market philosophy that extends beyond any narrow confines of business or commerce, becoming all pervasive. With regard to the public and third sectors there was some justification for this as a useful corrective to an over‐centralized concept of government which almost by definition precluded genuine innovation and enterprise. On the other hand, there was always the concomitant danger that the balance sheet would gradually efface any concerns with issues such as social justice and inequality. Recent state interventions resulting from the credit crunch and general concerns with financial liquidity, have dramatically altered the focus on the relationship and balance between the private, public, and third sectors; which in turn requires a revised understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship across all sectors of society, as well as highlighting the role played by ICT.