A Capabilities Approach to Innovation: a Case Study of a Technology and Innovation Hub in Zambia

This paper critically examines the linear claim, often made, that innovation leads to development. The orthodox view embedded in this claim, which equates development with industrial development and economic growth, is problematized in this paper partly by counter posing this orthodox concept of economic growth with Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s heterodox conceptualisation of human development, which advances a comprehensive view of development that requires evaluation not only of income and wealth, but also of other aspects of well-being and agency that people have reason to value. This research uses interpretive research methods including semi-structured interviews and participant observation to gain insight into technology and innovation hub dynamics. Findings include that those working at tech hubs value belonging to a community of shared interest and contributing to social enterprises. We argue that tech hubs, as collaborative spaces, may contribute to human-centred development processes in ways not directly leading to employment or market-based innovative products.