A roadmap for researching the transition of elBulli to elBulli Foundation from the perspective of organizational innovation. A collaboration between elBulli, Columbia University, Technical University of Catalonia, Telefonica I+D. We present our hybrid approach combining sociological research and computer science research
GastroTech Days: Language as a platform for innovation, lessons from elBulli
1. Language as a platform
for innovation
Some lessons from elBulli
M. Pilar Opazo
Dept of Sociology Columbia University NYC
Ramon Sangüesa
Technical University of Catalonia
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
2. A recipe for hybrid
research
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
3. Work in progress
• A study on the organizational evolution of elBulli
and its sustained creativity and innovation
• How and why practices started at elBulli have
spread across time and social space, within the
gastronomic field and in other fields
• How elBulli’s practices are transmitted to elBulli
Foundation, specially given its interest in knowledge-
sharing and diffusion.
• To understand the present and the future we need
to start by looking at the past.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
4. Dimensions of the study
• Which aspects of the past of
elBulli will remain in the
present and help us think
about the future of elBulli
Foundation?
• Organizational narratives
- Self-perception
- Perception of outsiders
• Organizational trajectory
• Diffusion
- From outlier to reference
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
5. Dimensions of the study
• Which aspects of the past of
elBulli will remain in the
present and help us think
about the future of elBulli
Foundation?
• Organizational narratives
- Self-perception
- Perception of outsiders
• Organizational trajectory
• Diffusion
- From outlier to reference
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
6. Work so far
In-depth interviews
Field trips
Analysis of Secondary sources
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
7. Importance of language
“Cuisine… is as well panoply
of narratives that sustain
praxis. Cuisine constructs and
upholds a community of
discourse, a collectivity
held together by words,
by language, by
interpretations of the world in
which we live”.
( P. Ferguson, "Accounting for Taste", 2004:8)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
8. From Food for Thought
to Thought for Food
(Ferguson 2004)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
10. elBulli’s language
• Products or ingredients
• Technology (equipments and
utensils)
Recipes
• Preparations (concepts and
Combinatorics and
techniques)
Heuristics
• Styles and characteristics
("A day at elBulli" 2010)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
11. Language as a
technology
“Culinary “We create words, with those
Creativity” words we create sentences and
with those sentences we create
paragraphs….the more words we
have, the more unique our
language will be.”
(Ferran Adria March 2011,NYC)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
12. Language as a
technology
A codified language offers a
platform to create, that is
collectively shared
Make sense of the world and
coordinate….defines the
playground
Not only use language to
create but expand and
transform this language
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
13. How can we trace the importance and
use of elBulli’s language?
• Measurable innovation results
• Number of recipes
• Number of techniques
• Number of new concepts
• Identify its adoption by the culinary field
• Timeline of adoption
• References
• Spillovers into other fields
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
14. Ethnographic
approach
How was language adopted and
used?
How does it expands?
Examine the use of elBulli’s language in
practice:
Chefs
Collaborators
Competitors
Schools of cuisine
Scientific Groups
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
15. Media Analysis
• Books
• Articles
• Extraction of words
• Correlation with internal language
• When do tipping points happen
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
16. Web Analysis
• Seeding the words
• Crawling
• Relating to communities
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
17. Community
detection and
analysis
Structural folds
Where do the most innovative
(not just “connected”) members
of the relevant ommunities
around the elBulli Foundation?
Qualitative analysis
(ethnographic approach)
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
18. Organization
Archival Text
Mining Quantitativ
e
Historical Discourse Approach
ethnography Analysis
Network
Qualitative exploration
Approach
Innovator’s
In-depth
identification
interviews
Environment
Hybrid approach
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
19. Open research questions
?
• ?
How can we can find ways of extrapolating
elBulli knowledge to other organizations,
within the gastronomic field and in other
fields?
?
Internet
• How is the new environment of elBulli
Foundation articulated? Which kinds of
diffusion strategies could be more effective?
Media
• Which aspects of the past of elBulli that will
Universit
ies
remain in the present and help us to think Culinary
about the future of elBulli Foundation? Experts
Alicia
• How to understand better the connection
between different types of methods and Restaur
technologies for this type of research? General
Public
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
20. Open research questions
?
• ?
How can we can find ways of extrapolating
elBulli knowledge to other organizations,
within the gastronomic field and in other
fields?
?
Internet
• How is the new environment of elBulli
Foundation articulated? Which kinds of
diffusion strategies could be more effective?
Media
• Which aspects of the past of elBulli that will
Universit
ies
remain in the present and help us to think Culinary
about the future of elBulli Foundation? Experts
Alicia
• How to understand better the connection
between different types of methods and Restaur
technologies for this type of research? General
Public
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
21. Final remarks
• The measure of an organization’s
innovative potential relies on its
capacity to define and develop a
solid platform to innovate.
• What matters most is the quality
of the “words” and “sentences”, “ElBulli una historia de un
created and the opportunities of sueño” Audiovisual
Catalogue
crossovers that they may open
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
22. References
• Abend, Lisa. 2011. "The sorcerer's apprentices: a season in the kitchen of Ferran Adria’s
elBulli." New York: Free Press.
• Bourdieu, Pierre. 1979. “Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste”. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press.
• Czarniawska, Barbara. (1997). “The Narrative of Cultural Studies.” In Narrating the
Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Ferguson, Priscilla. 2004. “Accounting for Taste: The Triumph of French Cuisine.” Chicago:
Chicago University Press.
• Stark, David. (2009). The sense of dissonance: Accounts of worth in economic life. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
• Svejenova, Silviya; Mazza, Carmelo and Planellas, Marc El. 2007. “Cooking up Change in Haute
Cuisine: Ferran Adria As an Institutional Entrepreneur”.
• Vedres, Balazs and Stark, David. 2010. “Structural Folds: Generative Disruption in
Overlapping Groups,” American Journal of Sociology 15/4: 1150-90.
• Yon-Yeo, Ahn, Sebastian Ahnert, James P. Bagrow and Barabasi, Albert-Lazslo. 2011. http://
meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR11/Event/144486
• ElBulli Publications
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
23. Thanks!
M. Pilar Opazo
mpo2110@columbia.edu
Ramon Sangüesa
sanguesa@lsi.upc.edu
Tuesday, October 18, 2011