How to engineer the unexpected - Future Tense | ABC Radio National

Serendipity, generally thought of as accidental good fortune, has long been a staple of popular science. The notion of fortuitous discovery still has strong appeal, but could it encourage innovation? Antony Funnell meets researchers who not only believe in serendipity, but are actively trying to engineer it.
Here's the thing about 'search', it drives our modern digital world by being as literal and predictable as possible. Type the words pizza and New York into your search engine, for instance, and up will pop articles about pizza and New York—the best pizza joints in the Big Apple or New York-style pizza.

That's a very good thing, of course, if you happen to find yourself in a certain mega-sized US city and you have a hunger for cardboard-thin food made largely from flour and tomato paste, but not so good if you enjoy an element of surprise, the chance discovery of something new and exciting.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/futuretense/creating-innova...