ELISTOKAINO

Greek History of Innovation: The Social Preconditions of Innovation. Aspects of the Greek Experience

2013-2015

Department of Mediterranean and Global Economic and Social History

Database

https://engineers.ims.forth.gr Opens in new window

The ELISTOKAINO project is part of the strategic development plan of the Institute for Mediterranean Studies (IMS) and the Foundation for Research and Technology. Through an interdisciplinary approach, it seeks to contribute to an understanding of innovation in Greece, by studying aspects of the Greek experience over time in this area. Research on innovation is a new field of social history and the IMS aims, with the completion of this research, to have made its mark on the international scholarly map in this field and thus increase the number of fields in which it has achieved academic and research excellence.

Project description

Principal Investigator Christos Hadziiossif

Research Team

Socrates Petmezas, Leda Papastefanaki, Anna Mahaira, Andreas Lyberatos, Marinos Sariyannis
Giorgos Gasias, Stefanos Vamiedakis, Yannis Gonatidis (Phd candidates, University of Crete)
Ioulia Lymberopoulou (postgraduate student, University of Ioannina)

Moreover, the IMS anticipates that, by the completion of the project, it will

Contribute to interdisciplinary approaches, promoting an osmosis between the natural and human sciences
In this regard, it will capitalise upon the fervent interest of many engineers and natural scientists in the history of their fields
Expand its educational activities through formal collaborations with the University of Crete's postgraduate study programmes, and in this way will
Introduce historical and sociological research on innovation to young scientists, broadening their scientific horizons and assisting in their professional development
In academic terms, the research will lead to several doctoral theses and Master's dissertations.
It will present scholarly research and innovation, in a manner intelligible to the general public, through exhibitions and other activities, making their history and importance to society more widely known.

The huge importance of innovation to securing sustainable and viable economic growth is widely accepted. With the Lisbon Strategy of March 2000, the European Council set as a strategic goal for the next decade to make the European Union, through innovation and knowledge, "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world". The acknowledgement by EU authorities that the Lisbon Strategy's goals had not been met and their reformulation and greater specification in the Europe 2020 strategy as "smart, sustainable, inclusive growth" demonstrates that the introduction of innovation into the economy and its translation into greater development do not depend so much on decisions taken at the top but instead presuppose the existence of a series of social factors. It is precisely these factors that are difficult to conceptualise using the quantitative indicators with which, as a rule, the performance in innovation of an economy and its society are measured. Public and private expenditure on research and development, the number of graduates in the natural sciences and engineering, broadband penetration, the expansion of life-long education, the number of international patents, the rate of employment in manufacturing and information technology services and other similar factors that constitute the so-called Composite Innovation Index (CII) describe situations, often tautologically, but they do not explain them. The participants of the ELISTOKAINO project are convinced that a historical and sociological approach can give answers to matters that the quantitative approach to innovation cannot.

The difficult times through which the Greek economy has gone in the past few years have often brought to the forefront of discussions proposals for technological research and innovation. Even so, although offhand "historical" and "sociological" interpretations are often given of the insufficient research funding or the supposed failure of research to contribute to economic growth, and proposals are made that range from increasing funding to abandoning scientific research, a proper consideration of the deeper causes of the state of research and innovation in Greece today is missing, as though they did not have a history.

It overlooks the fact that the creation of the modern Greek state, which is today looked upon by much of the international community as a "failed state", was a major innovation in a pre-urban and pre-industrial social context. This innovation was a combination of imported elements and local factors. The same happened in all areas of the economy, science and the arts, while there was no lack of exclusively domestic innovative activities that have not yet been researched. As there was a coordination between the various fields of social activity, in the sense that the set of social, economic and ideological factors that influenced the acceptance or production of innovation existed simultaneously in more than one field, the combined historical and sociological investigation of aspects of Greek experience will allow for a better understanding in general of the social preconditions of innovation.

A historical and multiperspective approach to the issue of innovation poses the question as to which particular aspects of Greek experience will be studied and for which period of time. The selection of the particular cases that are being proposed here was done using the criteria of their social significance and representativeness. On the basis of these criteria, the research interest is focused not only on those cases where innovation was successfully introduced but also on cases of failure and resistance. Even more so, given that resistance to innovation is often inextricably linked to its ultimate successful introduction. Although the research aims to contribute to understanding current situations, the period it covers stretches from the more recent past of the second half of the 20th century to as far back as the emergence of modern Greek society in the 18th century, the period of the Neohellenic Enlightenment and the pre-revolutionary years. This period can be considered as the mould in which characteristics of modern Greek society were shaped diachronically. This retrospection was also necessitated by the desire to put a check on superficial historical interpretations which attribute features and problems of modern Greek society to the legacy of the Ottoman period, which is supposedly responsible for the absence of a land-owning aristocracy, the conservatism of the bourgeoisie or "middle classes" who avoid taking economic risks, the attachment to the communal and the insufficient development of "subjectivity" in relation to the "West". Using these criteria, the issue of technological and economic innovation was chosen to be investigated through the following case studies and periods:

the perception of time and mechanical devices for time keeping in the Greek lands ( 18^th - 20^th centuries)
the field of mentalities and the attitude to the natural sciences during the initial period of the formation of modern Greek society
agriculture, the main production sector from the interwar period until 1970
shipbuilding, which is associated with shipping, a major and diachronic sector of the Greek economy and identity
the institutionalisation of protection for innovation through patent laws
Greek industries that have invested in research and the development of new products
the discussions on Greekness that took place in the visual and performing arts, alongside industrialisation and in relation to it
the role of engineers and entrepreneurs, both those who acted independently and those who worked as part of foreign missions and companies.
The role of women in research and innovation in Greece

Research Products

The main results of the research actions of the project are accessible through the following links:

Perceptions of time and mechanical devices for time keeping in the Greek lands eighteenth to twentieth centuries [R.A.1] ( 1.1, 1.2 401MB .accdb)
Scientific and technological experiments during the Greek Enlightment [R.A.2]
The introduction of innovations in Greek agriculture during the twentieth century [R.A.3] ( 3.1, 3.2)
Turning points in the Greek and Mediterranean shipbuilding industry, nineteenth - twentieth centuries [R.A.4]
Industrial innovation in theory and practice [R.A.5] ( 5.3)
Engineers, industrialization and modernization, 1830-1940 [R.A.6]
The role of foreign engineers in public works in Greece [R.A.7]
Innovation versus tradition and «Greekness» in visual and performing arts [R.A.8] ( 8.4, 8.5, 8.6 xls .zip)
The role of women in research and innovation in Greece [R.A.9]
Workshops and exhibitions [R.A.10]

Sub-project R.A. 1. Time Perception and Mechanical Timekeepers in the Greek Lands, 18th-20th c.

Principal Investigator Andreas Lyberatos
Research Group

Marinos Sariyannis (Principal Researcher IMS-ITE),
Dimitrios Charitatos (Post-doctoral Fellow, IMS-ITE),
Eleni Zerva & Konstantinos Kanakis (MA Students, University of Crete)

Time perception and attitudes towards time are considered important indicators for the transition of a society to modernity. The research unit "Time Perception and Mechanical Timekeepers in the Greek Lands, 18^th-20^th c." aimed to provide a first "mapping" of the Greek experience of transition to a modern time culture. When and how does Greek society "receive" the mechanical timekeepers (public and private) and which are the paths and mediums of this technological and cultural transfer? In which social environments was the use of time keepers initially adopted and consequently diffused and who were the agents of the new relationship to time characterized by the stress on temporal discipline? When and how were modern discourses and attitudes towards time (punctuality, time "economy", work/leisure dichotomy etc.) disseminated and diffused in Greece?

The inscription of the Greek case into the wider framework of the Balkans and Ottoman Empire (the legacy of which is considered crucial for modern Greek society) and a comparative approach to both the Empire and other successor states (Bulgaria, Serbia) was considered by the Research group necessary for a meaningful inquiry into the above stated questions. The multidisciplinary study of public clocks in the Greek lands, the study of the evolution of attitudes towards time and the study of technology reception, adoption and innovation in the field of timekeeping were among the research objectives of the research unit.

Research Products

Database “Public Clocks in Greece 18^th-20^th c.”
International workshop Inquiring Temporal Otherness: Timekeeping and Attitudes towards Time in the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire (16th-20th c.), Rethymno, Institute for Mediterranean Studies –Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, 23-24 Oct. 2015.
«Public mechanical clocks in Greece, 15th-20th c.» Exhibition curated by Α. Lyberatos & D. Haritatos. 24 April -16 Μay 2015, Thessaloniki, Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece.

Publications

Portfolio (2017) edited by A. Lyberatos & M. Sariyannis in Etudes Balkaniques: «Inquiring Temporal Otherness: Timekeeping and Attitudes towards Time in the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire (16th-20th c.)», Etudes Balkaniques, 2017, LIII/ 2, p. 197-344.
Lyberatos A. (2017), “Time and Timekeeping in the Balkans. Representations and Realities” in R. Daskalov et al. (ed.), Entangled history of the Balkans, vol. IV, Leiden: Brill, 2017, p. 257-290.
Lyberatos A. (2017b), “Constructing Temporal Otherness: Western Travelers and Timekeeping in the Balkans (16th – 19th c.)”, Etudes Balkaniques, 2017, LIII/ 2, p. 199-214.
Λυμπεράτος Α. (2015), «Χρόνος και μηχανικά μέσα μέτρησής του στη Νοτιοανατολική Ευρώπη: μελετώντας τις τοπικές εκφάνσεις μιας παγκόσμιας ιστορίας»[Time and mechanical timekeepers in Southeastern Europe: Studying Local facets of a Global Story], in: Στ. Αραποστάθης κ.α. (επιμ.), Τεχνολογία και Κοινωνία στην Ελλάδα. Μελέτες από την Ιστορία της Τεχνολογίας και τις Σπουδές Επιστήμης και Τεχνολογίας, Αθήνα: Εκδοτική Αθηνών, σ. 25-54.
Sariyannis, M., “Temporal Modernization’’ in the Ottoman pre-Tanzimat Context, Etudes Balkaniques, 2017, LIII/ 2, p. 230-262.
Charitatos D., “Public Clocks and Public Time in Northern Greece from the 16^th to early 20^th c.”, Etudes Balkaniques, 2017, LIII/ 2, p. 263-294.

Relevant publications of the Research Coordinator

Lyberatos A. (2012), “Clocks, Watches and Time Perception in the Balkans. Studying a Case of Cultural Transfer”, in: Η. Heppner & E. Posch (eds.), Encounters in Europe’s Southeast. The Habsburg Empire and the Orthodox World in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Bochum: Winkler, 231-254.
А. Lyberatos (2013), “От културeн трансфер към социо-културна трансформация: часовници и усещането за времето в България [From cultural transfer to socio-cultural transformation. Clocks and time perception in Bulgaria], Annuaire de l’ Universite de Sofia “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Faculté d’histoire, T. 101 (2008), Sofia, 2013, 123-143.
Λυμπεράτος Α. (2014), «Μηχανικά ρολόγια και αντίληψη του χρόνου στα Βαλκάνια: μελετώντας μια περίπτωση πολιτισμικής μεταφοράς» [Mechanical Clocks and Time Perception in the Balkans: Studying a Case of Cultural Transfer], in Ιdem (ed.), Τα Βαλκάνια. Εκσυγχρονισμός, ταυτότητες, ιδέες. Συλλογή κειμένων προς τιμήν της καθηγήτριας Νάντιας Ντάνοβα, [The Balkans. Modernization, Identities, Ideas. A Collection of Texts in honour of Prof. Nadia Danova] Βουλγαρική Ακαδημία Επιστημών,Πανεπιστημιακές Εκδόσεις Κρήτης & ΙΜΣ, 115-138.

Sub-project R.A. 3. The introduction of innovations in Greek agriculture during the twentieth century

Principal Investigator Socrates Petmezas
Research Team

Giorgos Gassias, Phd candidate, University of Crete

he agricultural sector was employing, until the mid-20th century, more than 50% of the Greek population and was the largest economic sector in terms of its part in the GDP. Studying the introduction and adoption of innovation in this sector thus of great significance. The rise of yields and of output per employee in the 1930s was thus a notable indicator of improvement in agricultural production. It was the result of use of improved seeds and breeds, as well as the expanded use of chemical fertilizers before the second word war, and of the expansion of irrigation in the postwar. Until the 1950s the adopted innovations were land-saving and labour-intensive. Rural exodus, exacerbating in the 1960s, reduced the available labour force in the lowlands and induced the adoption of more capital intensive and labour-saving methods, especially the introduction of new agricultural machinery. The Research project will study the activities of the organizations and services, both public and private, which were instrumental in diffusing such innovations in agriculture, and the reaction of cultivators to these innovations. We will focus on the activities of the Ministry of Agriculture and its services and organizations, of the National and the Agricultural Banks, of the Hellenic Society for the Production of Chemicals and Fertilizers, as well as of the novel educational Institutions (School of Agronomy, ect.), studying both the adopted policies and the personnel involved locally in their implementation. We will thus study how far individual or collective perceptions and actions were decisive in the diffusion, adoption or rejection of innovations. Since such experiences were also observed in other European Mediterranean societies, the larger mediterranean context will be taken into consideration in the study of the diffusion of innovation.

This was a part of the larger Research Project (KRIPIS I - ELISTOKAINO) and was asked to examine and catalogue all the available archival sources concerning the diffusion of innovation in rural Greece. The following archival sources were identified and registered:

Research Products

Catalog of the Archives of the Autonomous Organizations and Services of the Greek Ministry of Agriculture and other related Institutions and Organizations.
Bibliographic guide
Socrates Petmezas “The policy of wheat self-sufficiency and its impact upon rural modernization in Greece 1928–1960” στο Carin Martiin, Juan Pan-Montojo και Paul Brassley (επιμ.) Agriculture in Capitalist Europe, 1945–1960 From food shortages to food surpluses, Routledge: London 2016, σελ.87-106.
Γιώργος Γάσσιας “«...Είμεθα γεωργικόν κράτος...» Από το σιτάρι στο ψωμί. Η παρέμβαση του ελληνικού κράτους στη λειτουργία της παραγωγικής αλυσίδας του σιταριού στο μεσοπόλεμο.”, Μνήμων [to be published]

Sub-project R.A. 6 Engineers, industrialization, modernization, 1830-1940

Principal Investigator Leda Papastefanaki
Research Team

Yannis Gonatidis (Phd candidate in History, Department of History-Archaeology, University of Crete)
Stefanos Vamiedakis (Phd candidate in History, Department of History-Archaeology, University of Crete)

Aim of the research was to study, by using the methods of history, the role of engineers in industry, as well as their political and social activity. The research focused on engineers as actors by examining a) the choices about the engineering studies in polytechnics in Greece and abroad; b) the professional careers of the engineers in Greece (and in Ottoman Empire) and c) the social environments (networks, scientific and technical associations etc) in which they participate and act as professionals and citizens.

Research Products

Three databases have been created

Engineers registered in the Technical Chamber of Greece, 1934-1950
Graduates of Polytechnical Schools and Technical Schools abroad
Publications of the Technical Press (indexation of the reviews Erga, 1925-1932; Technika Chronika, 1932-1950; Viomichaniki Epitheorisis, 1934-1950).

The data bases [in Greek] are in open access here: http://engineers.ims.forth.gr/

Publications

Leda Papastefanaki, “Mining engineers, industrial modernization and politics in Greece, 1870-1940”, The Historical Review/La Revue Historique, v. XIII (2016), 71-115
Leda Papastefanaki, «Οι μηχανικοί στην Ελλάδα του Μεσοπόλεμου: σπουδές, επαγγελματικές σταδιοδρομίες, διασυνδέσεις» [“The engineers in interwar Greece: studies, professional careers, interconnections”], Μνήμων 35 (2016), σ. 233-264 [in Greek]

Sub-project R.A. 7: Foreign engineers in the Greek state

Principal Investigator Anna Mahaira
Research Team Ioulia Lyberopoulou (postgraduate student, University of Ioannina)

The purpose of this research unit is the study of foreign engineers in Greece, either as personal cases or in collectives that ensured their stay in the country (foreign missions and companies), as they are the bodies of the new technicians who contributed to the establishment and the operation of Greek infrastructure. The examination of this technology transfer system will seek the special role of the state, which by financing public works, outsourcing of infrastructure to foreign companies, the creation of technology education created the framework and controlled channels of communication with the outside world. The Bavarian influence on the public architecture of the first decades of the life of the Greek state, the French domination until the end of the 19th century in the field of infrastructure creation, the "German" formation of the National Technical University of Athens, the American influences on the interwar mechanics, technology at the service of ancient Greek glory during the Metaxas dictatorship, or the prevalence of a pragmatic model of moderate exploitation of national resources after the Marshall Plan suggest the direct relationship of policy and technology transfer in the contemporary Greek state.

Research Products

Άννα Μαχαιρά, «Ένα εθνικό σώμα μηχανικών στο πλαίσιο των διεθνών οικονομικών σχέσεων: η υπηρεσία των Ponts et Chaussées και η αποστολή της στην Ελλάδα (1882-1886)» στο Στάθης Αραποστάθης, Φαίδρα Παπανελοπούλου, Τέλης Τύμπας (επ.), Τεχνολογία και Κοινωνία στην Ελλάδα. Μελέτες από την Ιστορία της Τεχνολογίας και τις Σπουδές Επιστήμης και Τεχνολογίας, Αθήνα, Εκδοτική Αθηνών, 2015, 81-102
Άννα Μαχαιρά, Τεχνοκρατία και Πολιτική. Οι μηχανικοί του Κράτους της Γαλλίας στην Ελλάδα του 19ου αιώνα, ΠΕΚ, (to be published)