Formes et apports du jeu pour innover. Petite histoire des pratiques et recherches actuelles

Here we discuss the history of the use of games for serious reasons and their scientific purposes. This long-standing practice became commonplace in the 1990s, particularly with the emergence of new technologies such as video games, the widespread use of the Internet, and the growth of agile software development. Companies such as LEGO developed innovative methods based on the use of game elements. In addition, in 2002, the term "serious game" was formalized by the Serious Games Initiative. Thus, serious games have been very successful. We note in particular the success of America's Army, which was developed by the US army to respond to a recruitment problem. The game largely contributed to solving this problem. Since then, many other professional practices inspired by games have emerged, many of which are part of an innovation context (innovation games, agile games, goal-based games, gamification of devices, etc.). To get a better idea of the place of these utilitarian forms in relation to innovation, we begin this issue with a brief bibliometric analysis of the international scientific literature that has been dedicated to them over the last 25 years. We then briefly present the other texts in this issue according to the categories of serious forms of play or games that they belong to