Competing innovation systems and the need for redeployment in sustainability transitions (original) (raw)
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Evolutionary approaches for sustainable innovation policies: From niche to paradigm
Research Policy, 2009
Fostering technological innovation is considered as an important element of policies towards sustainable development. In the past 10 years, evolutionary policy approaches have been increasingly advocated. For several reasons, they seem well equipped to underpin sustainable innovation policies. They focus on dynamics of change and their drivers, they allow for a substantive perspective on technologies beyond mere input-output relations, taking into account trajectories and different characteristics of innovation, and they are able to describe circumstances under which established technologies might persist even when they are to some extent inferior to their new competitors (lock-in). However, the policy effectiveness of evolutionary approaches in cases in which radical or systemic changes are involved is not yet proven. In this paper we assess the theoretical rationale, instrumental aspects and the coping with policy constraints of three evolutionary policy approaches which have also been used in empirical studies: strategic niche management, transition management and time strategies. Each approach has its strengths and specific problems and all three have to be further developed and tested out but they hold promise for contributing to non-incremental change with economic and environmental benefits, by shaping processes of variation, selection and retention, with the outcomes feeding back into policy. They may also be used in other areas in which innovation direction is important, for instance health care or food.
Energy, 2009
The support of sustainable energy innovations has become a dominant topic on the political agenda of many countries. Providing this support remains difficult, since the processes constituting such innovation trajectories are poorly understood. To increase insight in such processes, this paper takes the historical development of biofuels in the Netherlands as the topic of study. Special attention is paid to the simultaneous development of two technology generations within the field: a first generation (1G) and a second generation (2G) of biofuels. A critical question asked is whether deployment programmes for a 1G technology may have positive effects on the development of later generations. Two archetypical support strategies are identified: one is to keep investing in R&D concerning 2G technology, where the expected outcome is a fast move from one technology generation to the other. The other strategy is to focus on learning-by-doing in the 1G technology. In that way progress can be made in 1G technologies but the effects on 2G technologies are uncertain. We apply a Technological Innovation System perspective to analyse the strategies followed and their effects. From the results we draw lessons of relevance for practitioners who aspire to understand and influence emerging energy technologies. (R.A.A. Suurs).
Lessons from the past for sustainability transitions? A meta-analysis of socio-technical studies
To break away from techno-institutional lock-in in climate change and in other sustainability problems, many have focused on innovation in technological 'niches'. The destabilisation of the incumbent 'regime' has been neglected and external 'landscape' pressures under-analysed. With this in mind, this article examines the factors of regime destabilisation and forms of regime resistance in past technological transitions in energy and transport. It analyses 23 energy (electricity, heat & chemicals) and 11 transport (drive chain, networks, fuels & land planning) transitions pre-1990. Furthermore, in order to properly frame these results and make any "lessons from the past" applicable to the present, this article includes an assessment of current sustainability trends. The key lessons from past energy transitions are that regime outsiders with the right ideology and influence on the market can destabilise the energy sector, which has traditionally had strong incumbents. As incumbents are weakened, past transport transitions show that further change may come from emphasising the Health and Lifestyle benefits of sustainability transitions.
Multidimensional relatedness between innovation systems in sustainability transitions
2019
Recent literature in sustainability transition studies has suggested that established industries may provide resources for innovation in low-carbon technologies. This literature, however, has this far not explained why such resource redeployment takes place. Literature in evolutionary economic geography and management studies, however, have discussed such interactions through the notion of relatedness as an underlying factor. Drawing on these literatures we develop an integrated framework for the analysis of multidimensional relatedness between innovation systems in the context of sustainability transitions. Using semi-structured interviews, we study the technological, institutional and network relatedness between the oil and gas industry and the offshore wind power technology in Norway. Our results show that despite the high relatedness in offshore technologies, low relatedness in terms of institutions has challenged the resource redeployment from the Norwegian oil and gas industry...
Innovation Pathways to Transition
2017
Bottom-up and practice-based social innovations need to be incorporated in an integrated manner to achieve the required paradigm shift for energy system change. This Deliverable asks “how can new technologies and practices be best supported/disseminated to achieve ‘lift-off’ and impact?” Innovation studies approaches, including Strategic Niche Management thinking have been applied. Innovation needs, and specific and tailored innovation responses have been identified for 4 of the ENTRUST communities of practice; these are Stockbridge, Le Trapèze, Secondigliano and Dunmanway. Outcomes point to new policy mixes and practice-based changes at the community level to inform innovation pathways for each community.
Fostering sustainable technologies: a framework for analysing the governance of innovation systems
Science and Public …, 2011
There is an ever-growing recognition among policy-makers, industries and analysts that the development and diffusion of technological innovations need governing in order to contribute to societal goals related to sustainability, such as climate change mitigation and resource efficiency. Yet, little is known about how different types of governance influence innovation processes, and what may be effective governance arrangements to pursue to influence the development and diffusion of sustainable technological innovations. This paper develops a framework for the analysis of governance arrangements aimed at fostering more sustainable technological innovations. The framework addresses important debates in governance and innovation research. First, it addresses a critical gap in the literature on technological innovation systems (TISs) which is the connection between governance arrangements and the functionality of the TIS. Second, it contextualizes this connection in relation to the multi-level perspective (MLP) to transitions, assuming that governance arrangements influence in different ways the functionality of the TIS depending on the structure, stability and positioning of the TIS in relation to the regime. Third, it develops a comprehensive heuristic to examine the prevalence, role and effectiveness of various modes of governance, departing from a simple typology of "who governs", "how do they govern", and "what is governed". The framework prompts a temporal causal analysis of predominantly qualitative nature. 1 With sustainable technologies, we mean (new) technologies that are proposed to radically reduce the environmental burden without sacrificing societal and economic standard. Parallel to the development of this framework, we have initiated three case studies of selected ongoing innovation processes concerning sustainable technologies in the road transport sector: biofuels, hybrid technology, and hydrogen/fuel cells. In this paper, we use these case studies to exemplify certain aspects of the framework, and we will later use them to test and refine the framework 2 In the TIS literature, different degrees of "systemicness" occur. In some cases, the interaction between elements is yet to be developed. 3 The focus on technology in TISs does not signify a focus on technology push, or that market mechanisms are excluded. Rather, the technology definition is used as a starting point to delineate the system. 4 It should be noted that a TIS can be seen at various levels of aggregation. For example, more narrow technologies could be studied, such as ethanol from wheat or parallel hybrid technology powered by Li-ion batteries.
Research Policy, 2010
Sustainable development is prompting a re-assessment of innovation and technological change. This review paper contributes three things towards this re-assessment activity. First, it considers how the history of innovation studies for sustainable development can be explained as a process of linking broader analytical frameworks to successively larger problem framings. Second it introduces an emerging framework whose allure rests in its ability to capture the bigger picture: the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions (MLP). Whilst burgeoning researcher networks and literature suggests this policy-relevant theory is attractive, it is not without its challenges. The third purpose of this paper is to elaborate these challenges as areas for further research and development. We do this by drawing upon contributions to this special section and the wider literature.