Cultural change, which inspires the economic, political and social processes of innovation, is anchored and nurtured to a great extent by the informal sector in African as well as in Latin American societies. Both cultural change and cultures of innovation derive their strength at least as much from their common historical roots and their embeddedness in transnational social spaces, as from national or local cultures. This underlines the relevance of current theses on the Black Atlantic and unfinished migrations also for the discussion of the linkage between cultures of innovation and development, both in African societies and African diasporas, e.g. in Benin and Ghana or Brazil or Haiti. The ever increasing extension of the informal sector (both in the economy and in politics) due to the pressure of globalization requires innovative actors to guarantee survival. However, the cultures of innovation of the informal sector differ fundamentally from that of the formal sector, structurally as well as concerning its social and political evaluation. Grossly under investigated up to now; they involve unsettled questions of multiple modernities, culture specific livelihoods, differentiated according to social class, ethnicity, religion and gender, and the related social, economic and political actor potential of innovative strategic groups. The answers to these questions are crucial for the evaluation of the sustainability, transferability and potential spread effects of development orientated innovation cultures.
