Complexity and Emergent Innovation In Public Universities

This essay introduces complexity theory as a lens for examining public universities and their role in society, in particular regarding emergent innovation. The complexity principles of scale, interdependence, embeddedness, nonlinearity, and emergence identify possible paths for higher education institutions seeking to reinforce and expand their function in the community and their capabilities for producing new knowledge and novel forms of organizing. The case of Arizona State University’s charter and design aspirations are used to illustrate how a complexity-aware university can be designed and operate as a force for positive social change.