**Preface to "Business, Open Innovation and Art"**

For much of human history, artistry and craftsmanship were natural ingredients in productmaking and commerce. The Industrial Age, taken over by machines and assembly lines, squeezed cultural values and uniqueness out of many products, in favor of uniformity, volume and speed, to minimize costs and maximize profits. While industrialization improved the human condition in many ways, this "dehydration" in business has been pervasive—humans were used ¢ȱ machines to enable mass production; corporate offices were places for making a living but not living a life; and 20th century management was all about efficiency, the bottom-line, and shareholder value (with an obsession about quarterly earnings). Art went its own way, with artists either starving or celebrated in museums and auction houses away from everyday life, or some precarious point in between. This bifurcation led to antipathy between the two worlds, which is taken for granted in modern society. Artists view businesspeople as philistines, and businesspeople cannot see much use of art in corporate life beyond decoration in the lobby, and maybe some branding value, even though some may patronize art after making their fortune. 

In spite of such unquestioned but unnatural perceptions, business has much to learn from the arts, and management is more of an art than people recognize. Successful artists and executives share common prerequisites. Business can grow artistically by the alchemy of invention, especially in ȱ "innovation economy". A notion introduced by Joseph Schumpeter in 1942, which became a mainstream concept around the turn of century, the innovation economy is commonly seen as driven by technological developments, when in fact, human factors are of paramount importance. Technology, by itself, creates as many problems as it solves. Without a conducive culture, innovation falters or does not occur at all. 

Ironically, after its predecessors turned people and organizations, into machines, the Fourth Industrial Revolution ȱ to turn machines into humans—but unlike machines in the 18th through 20th century, digital machines of today and tomorrow not only have more and more biological and cognitive properties embedded in them, they make things the way an artist and craftsman would. This is not only resurrecting the Renaissance Man, but also reuniting art and business, without frenzied corporate executives and "disruptors" realizing it. In the meantime, the destructive consequences of extractive capitalism for the environment, the hazardous effects of mass consumption destroying natural habitats and breeding novel pathogens, and anger over structural inequity in our society all came to the fore, laid bare in worldwide calamities and social turmoil marking entry into the third decade of the 21st century. 

As companies find the business environment increasingly complex to navigate, the whitewater of changes and crises perpetually rocking the boat, art can be a powerful tool to catalyze innovation and transformation, helping companies (re)discover their compass, create new rafts to conquer the rapids, and find "blue ocean" market spaces in a reborn world. 

The "Business, Open Innovation and Art" Special Issue was initiated to pursue research and case studies that demonstrate the value of art in business management, particularly in the realm of innovation. We welcomed insights and data that addressed the frequently asked skeptic's question: "What is the ROI of an art program?" We sought out views on the difference between art and design, and any art thinking framework which might take the popular design thinking approach a step further. Insights from creative industries that have broader application to the business world were embraced as well.

We were delighted to receive quality contributions from educators, researchers, practitioners and entrepreneurial leaders around the world, who addressed these questions and much more. The articles that we published in the MDPI journal *Open Innovation: Technology, Marketǰ and Complexity* are now in this book, and highlight various forms of art practice—visual, performing, conceptual, installation and music—and apply them to diverse activities and industries—higher education, healthcare, sustainability, social innovation, arts and culture, and entrepreneurship—in academic, corporate and non-profit settings, as well as in innovation ecosystems. The authors, selected for their expertise in both art and management, investigated and reported on the connections between the two, through various formats of intervention, such as arts-based learning, art hacking, and artist-in-residence, manifesting various effects on organizational life, such as artistic strategies and processes, artful leadership, management aesthetics and art thinking innovation, as depicted in Figure 1. The many functions of art relevant to the business enterprise, and their effects on individuals and systems, are loosely abstracted in Figure 2. 

**Figure 1.** Interventions and manifestations of art in business.

**Figure 2.** Multi-layered functions of art.

More specifically, the articles feature the following major themes, addressing art's value in business and innovation: 
