Innovation in Extreme Scenarios

<p><span class="bold italic" xml:lang="en">Habbakuk </span><span xml:lang="en">is a multi-strand research project incorporating expert meetings, interviews, artist commissions, and hands-on experimentation. This research project was triggered by the introduction of an innovation agenda for the arts as part of the Dutch government’s ambition to be “one of the world’s top five knowledge economies” by 2020. V2_, based in Rotterdam, NL, has a 30-year history of working at the intersection of art, design, culture, and technology, and last year became part of the “e-culture” grouping which is subject to this innovation agenda and its aims.</span></p> <p>We became curious about the use and abuse of this term, and began exploring the notion of innovation not as an imperative from politicians but as a result of real-life extreme scenarios which compel innovation. Our starting point was the incredible World War II story of Project Habbakuk, the invention of a new material, a kind of “super ice” which can withstand bullets and takes a very long time to melt. This material was proposed to Winston Churchill as a substance from which to create an aircraft carrier to combat the German U-boat problem. As a result of a dramatic meeting of the Allies wherein a bullet ricocheting off this new super ice nearly killed one of the Americans, Churchill authorized the construction of a prototype in a then-remote location of Canada: Jasper, Alberta. Ultimately the war ended before the boat could be fully developed, and this material was largely forgotten. When considering the conditions for innovation today, we asked ourselves: what is the U-boat problem of today, and how can art and science innovation address it? How do new materials figure into this mix, and what are the risks and benefits involved?…</p>