Speaking after a conference on 'Interfacing Innovation' in Brussels, hosted by the European Journalism Centre, Nordfors said media coverage of innovation is central to public dialogue on the issue but the traditional way of organising news coverage may not be ideal.
The event was part of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation (see EurActiv LinksDossier), which is designed to raise awareness of innovation in society, education and industry.
"In most media, there is somebody who takes care of science reporting, and another guy who looks after business reporting. If we have that kind of partitioning, then the science journalist tries to avoid business because it's not his beat, and the business journalist ignores science."
"That works well in a world where science and business are separated, but today where innovation is becoming a driving force in the economy, these things are closely linked. We have to either partition things differently or find ways of working together to write innovation stories," he said.
Nordfors cited innovation in medical research as an example of a cross-cutting issue that touches on business, science and politics.
He said covering this topic means taking an interest in how the pharmaceutical industry influences the direction of research, and how they use the patent system to protect their innovations.
Nordfors, who coined the term 'innovation journalism' in 2003, believes the media is an essential part of social engagement with emerging technologies, and news outlets can help provide new language with which issues can be debated.
"Innovation journalism covers how ideas turn into new value in society, and the ecosystems of various actors who participate in the process of innovation. Business people, tech people and politicians often have different words for the same things. These people traditionally read different types of news."
"So what I think we need is simple stories explaining how these things hang together, so that anybody with any interest can read and understand how new technologies, business issues and policies come together. If we can do that, we can generate a common language," he said.
