Swedish Researcher Says Culture Matters for Innovation
Religion & Liberty Online

Swedish Researcher Says Culture Matters for Innovation

West Michigan is welcoming a new researcher to the area, and Dr. Stefan Jovinge says that culture matters a great deal for incubating innovation. Jovinge, previously of Lund University in Sweden, is one of the world’s foremost scientists investigating the ability of cardiac cells to repair themselves, and he’s joining the Van Andel Institute and at the Spectrum Health Frederik Meijer Heart & Vascular Institute in Grand Rapids.

As Sue Thorns reports, the entrepreneurial culture of West Michigan played a big part in motivating Jovinge’s move. “There is an entrepreneurship and philanthropy here that is astonishing,” he said. “You who live here probably don’t understand this because you think this is normal. But you don’t find it everywhere.”

Read more: “New Spectrum-VAI heart research program to be led by renowned Swedish scientist.”

Jordan J. Ballor

Jordan J. Ballor (Dr. theol., University of Zurich; Ph.D., Calvin Theological Seminary) is director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy, an initiative of the First Liberty Institute. He has previously held research positions at the Acton Institute and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and has authored multiple books, including a forthcoming introduction to the public theology of Abraham Kuyper. Working with Lexham Press, he served as a general editor for the 12 volume Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology series, and his research can be found in publications including Journal of Markets & Morality, Journal of Religion, Scottish Journal of Theology, Reformation & Renaissance Review, Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Faith & Economics, and Calvin Theological Journal. He is also associate director of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research at Calvin Theological Seminary and the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity & Politics at Calvin University.