Recalibrating, reconfiguring, and appropriating innovation: A semantic network analysis of China’s Mass Innovation and Mass Entrepreneurship (MIME) initiatives

Abstract

The new turn to Mass Innovation and Mass Entrepreneurship (MIME) initiatives in China mark a concrete step to reconfiguring and appropriating the western maker movement rhetoric to fit China’s context. In this paper, we explore the nascent China’s maker movement under the guidance of the state’s MIME initiative to identify the key issues, actions, rationales, and logics of appropriation linked to this public policy agenda. Empirically, we employ a semantic network analysis to identify policy frames of the two principal documents of the MIME issued in 2015 and 2018. Providing insight into the heterogeneous nature of MIME discourses and innovation policy in China, our study Sheds light on how social innovation derives from activism and connect with emerging creative cities discourse, entrepreneurship, and local economic development. Implication for the theory and practice of innovation policy are outlined.