International Comparative Design-Based Innovation Networks: Tension Resolution as Design Challenge

Abstract

Research on design-based innovation networks often focuses on the activities and interactions of the actors and on exploring their scalability mechanisms. There is agreement that such phenomena cannot be analyzed in isolation from the context of such networks. Less attention has been given to the difficult task of conceptualizing relations between the bigger educational context, individual schools and the network. The relationship between network design and the quality of school improvement has also not been adequately addressed. This paper presents the analysis of tensions and roles in SUNG (School-UNiversity-Government) partnership networks that point to contradictions in three innovation networks, located respectively in Singapore, Quebec and Hong Kong, and discusses the implications of the inherent and explicit tensions as design challenges.