Swiss innovation and social networks: a thematic analysis in French-speaking print media and in the newspaper Le Temps

Abstract

Currently the themes of innovation and social networks appear in the content of press articles. Living in an Internet society where the users are increasingly involved in the innovation process, thus acting upon the notion of "Bottom-Up innovation", as coined by Eric von Hippel (1998, 2005, 2013), indicates it is worthwhile to analyse the place of these terms in respect to our daily lives as well as their evolution over time. Are the terms innovation and social networks important in public debates? Which principles define the model of Swiss Innovation, often compared to that of Silicon Valley? As Switzerland's position improves within the global innovation rankings over time, is it possible to observe in parallel increased occurrences of these themes in the press? Could the two notions of innovation and social networks be interlinked? Are there any enterprises, which appear through the media press, as particularly present in the fields of innovation and/or social networks?