innovation meets resistance: the war between ancients and moderns

Innovation meets resistance. Let’s assume that there is an innovation or a raft of innovations that would significantly enhance a community or education system. But the bearer discovers that they can’t get them implemented. What are the factors at play preventing this happening?

1. Those in power (ie. those with more opportunity and influence) don’t fully understand the innovation or it’s importance (and are reluctant to admit this). Although there is often some understanding in my honest opinion it is usually shallow, not deep. Innovation is often complex and requires deep understanding of a variety of factors. If you don’t understand it then how can you really help to implement it?
2. There might be some partial understanding but a lack of will or energy to solve all the problems that will arise in implementing the innovation. Innovation does require energy, determination and ability to solve problems. Innovation is usually not easy.
3. Innovation often requires special infrastructure, organisational factors and new technology, which in turn require money. If these are not put in place then the chances of success are significantly reduced. New ideas will not succeed by magic, their implementation requires careful planning and foresight.

All three are required for innovation to be successful. If understanding of any one of the three is shallow then success will be less likely than it could be.

I have been trying to introduce a variety of innovations into Alice Springs: block coding (Snap as well as Scratch), app inventor, the Fab Lab, microcontrollers, Maker Education, 3D printers. The focus here is on what Stager and Martinez have called the 3 game changers. One goal here is to bring education into the 21st Century. Although I have had a little success it is frustrating how slowly things are progressing.

What is happening here? That is what I am trying to understand. Australian education is a huge, centralised system (eg. ACARA). This system is so preoccupied with reproducing itself that it doesn't seem able to recognise or evaluate a good innovation. The responses I get vary from being ignored completely or someone might initially show interest but then forget about it (and then change their story) or if I press I might get some comical bureauspeak in reply. What I have learnt is that it is really, really hard to introduce a good innovation. See the quote from the article below, about the war between the ancients and moderns:

It's been proven time and again that any institution that makes it the responsibility of the general manager to be in charge of both the ongoing business and the innovative efforts for creating tomorrow's new and different business usually ends without significant innovation

REFERENCE
MINE
the 3 game changers: high level overview
21st Century Curriculum
maker space and middle school curriculum reform
your town needs a community Fab lab
Organising a 3D printer activity
Scratch course new upgrade
the teaching of coding
OTHER
Martinez, Sylvia and Stager, Gary. Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering and Engineering in the Classroom. 2nd Edition (2019)
Ridley, Matt How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom (2020)
Why Real Innovation Is Always Met With Fierce Resistance … and What To Do About It
extract from the last one:

Today, many universities and colleges are entering the field of web-based degree granting and certification programs. The savvy schools such as Cornell and Penn State have created completely separate, autonomous units to deliver, market and grow online training. Others are following their example.

If this isn't done, it's almost guaranteed that "a war of the ancients against the moderns" will erupt and threaten the internal upstart web-based learning organization–and deprive it of the resources needed to innovate successfully.

To repeat: It's been proven time and again that any institution that makes it the responsibility of the general manager to be in charge of both the ongoing business and the innovative efforts for creating tomorrow's new and different business usually ends without significant innovation.

And the traditional blame game inevitably occurs. Everyone becomes frustrated, demoralized and (many times) embittered.