Diffusion of Innovations

How and why do new practices, programs, technologies, and policies spread? What factors are important for faculty and student entrepreneurs to consider during innovation development so that an innovation will be positively perceived, seriously assessed, adopted, and then implemented to good effect?

In this talk, Dearing will review lessons learned by diffusion researchers across many topical fields, including engineering, healthcare, public health, business, psychology, and the environment. The diffusion of innovation research and practice paradigm forms much of the basis for what is now considered dissemination and implementation science.

Jim Dearing (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is Brandt Endowed Professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. He studied under and collaborated with Everett M. Rogers for 20 years. Dearing’s research and teaching spans dissemination science, implementation science, program sustainability, and the psychological and sociological basis of the diffusion process. He has led and worked with research and practice improvement teams in toxic waste remediation, nursing care, injury and fatality prevention, university outreach, cancer survivorship support, HIV/AIDS prevention, and community engagement. He has been principal investigator for research grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, National Institutes of Health, Agency for Healthcare Quality & Research, and private foundations, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Originally from Northern California, Jim lived two years in Japan and was Senior Scientist with Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest nonprofit, nongovernmental integrated healthcare system.