The Social Uses of the Innovation Concept. A Qualitative Approach to the Discursive Logics for the Access to and Use of Information, Communication and Knowledge in Andalusia

In the semantic architecture of the society of the knowledge the innovation concept is the fundamental brick. It is an adobe that allows to construct very different discourses frequently opposed between them, in what the purpose of its social use concerns. In the present communication we introduce the motivations for the access and use of the information and the knowledge on the part of the different social sectors in the Andalusian society. The analysis of the efforts of the Andalusian administration to promote the economy of knowledge supposes an opportunity to show the contingency in the reduction of the digital divide on the ground of citizen participation. It proposes a qualitative approach to the knowledge production, management and socialization in Andalusia derived from an research performed by means of personal interviews. Our conclusions indicate how the link with the social development is a priority in the case of the small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as for the social organizations and social movements. It underlines the logic of the economic development in the great companies oriented to the technological innovation, in the European Union research laboratory, and in the Andalusian government organ dedicated to the innovation, science and business. In the university, and the public research institutes area the main point is research. Three positions are identified, the traditional that is reluctant to the processes incorporating information and knowledge, the one that finds in the innovation concept the main motor of the Andalusian system of knowledge and the one that is closely connected with the equality and the social emancipation.