Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Submission to the Productivity Commission study on science and innovation

Mr Toss Gascoigne
CHASS Executive Director
7 August 2006

1. A central question of relevance

"The focus is thus on the physical and biological sciences, including engineering, with the social sciences (and the arts and humanities) excluded except to the extent they are relevant to innovation."¹

We would argue that the humanities, arts and social sciences are highly relevant to innovation. The HASS sector contributes in a number of ways: not just as a supporting act to science; but also as an equal partner with science, technology, engineering and medicine in collaborative projects; and in the new post smoke-stack era of industry, as innovators in their own right. A study aiming to "cover all key elements in the innovation system" should explicitly recognise the HASS contribution.

Australia's economy, environment and social structure benefit as much from developing better ways of managing, as from new technologies. Issues with major economic implications (such as water usage, the health and welfare of indigenous communities, and obesity) cannot be solved by science alone, but depend equally on changing behaviours and attitudes. The battle against cyber crime will be led by the HASS sector, through the work of philosophers based in universities.

Innovation relies on skills emanating from the HASS sector working in combination with scientific invention: the establishment and maintenance of networks and relationships and on communication, training and the transfer of skills and knowledge.

Daniel Pink in his new book A Whole New Mind goes further: The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind - computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind - creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people - artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers - will now reap society's richest rewards and share its greatest joys.²

He argues that the skills of the previous era are necessary but no longer sufficient, and success in adopting a new way of thinking "increasingly will determine who flourishes and who flounders."3 In Pink's new world, the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) are crucial to innovation.

¹ Public Support for Science and Innovation, Productivity Commission Issues Paper, April 2006 p5

² Pink, Daniel. A Whole New Mind Riverhead 2005 Introduction

Contents of this submission:

1. A central question of relevance
2. About CHASS
3. The HASS sector
4. The context
5. The role and impact of HASS research
6. Specific issues raised by the Productivity Commission

 

Toss Gascoigne
07 August 2006

Download this paper   [PDF file size: 263.35 kB]   REF: SUB20060807TG

 

For more information, please contact:

Toss Gascoigne

Executive Director

Council of the Humanties, Arts and Social Sciences

Phone: +61 2 6249 1995

director@chass.org.au