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Innovation and sustainability transitions in
regional innovation systems
NORSI/PING PhD course ‘Innovation Systems,
Clusters and Innovation Policy’
Lars Coenen
CIRCLE & NIFU, Oslo
Lars.Coenen@circle.lu.se
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Overview of lecture
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The sustainability imperative
Ecological modernization
What are sustainability transitions?
Multi-Level Perspective
Technological Innovation Systems
Empirical illustration
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The sustainability imperative
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The sustainability imperative
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350
Final energy (EJ/a)
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250
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150
100
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Source: Ecofys
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2000
2010
2020
2030
2040
Nuclear
Coal
Natural gas
Oil
Bio: Algae
Bio: Crops
Bio: Comp.Fellings*
Bio: Traditional
Bio: Resid.&Waste
Hydropower
Geo: Heat
Geo: Electricity
Solar thermal
Conc. solar: Heat
Conc. solar: Power
Photovoltaic solar
Wave & Tidal
Wind: Off-shore
Wind: On-shore
2050
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The sustainability imperative
Climate policy and innovation policy: friends or
foes?
Is innovation policy only about economic growth?
What kind of innovation policy for sustainable
development?
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Greening Innovation Systems through Ecological
modernization
Ecological modernization: readaptation of industrial society
within the boundaries of earth’s carrying capacity by
modern means such as scientific knowledge, advanced
technology, capitalist systems of production and
consumption (Mol, Spaargaren)
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Technology as a solution, not a problem
Porter hypothesis: stringent environmental regulation >
improved competitiveness
Pioneering countries & Lead markets
Multinational companies
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Critisism on ecological modernization
No real theory rather a meta-narrative (Gibbs,
2006)
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Technological determinism
Lacks theory of change and governance (bias
towards corporatist relationships between
government & industry)
Lacks a theory of power relations (opposition)
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A definition of ’transition’
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Co-evolution towards system innovations through new
technology, changes in markets, user pratices, policy
and cultural discourses, and governing institutions
(Geels, Hekkert and Jacobsson, 2008)
(1) co-evolution and multiple changes in socio-technical
systems or configurations
(2) multi-actor interactions between social groups such
as firms, user groups, scientific communities, policy
makers, social movements and special interest
groups
(3) ‘radical’ change in terms of scope of change (not
speed)
(4) long-term processes covering 40-50 years.
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Sustainability Transitions: an emerging field of
scholarship (courtesy of B. Truffer)
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A burgeoning field of research (Markard et al., 2012)
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Environmental innovations (products, technologies, lifestyles)
Sectoral transformation processes & emerging industries
Core concepts
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Process: Social construction, evolution
Structures: Systemic interactions
Policies: Transition Management
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Theoretical origins
(Economic) Evolutionary theory
– Change as a process of variation, selection and
retention
– Dominant design
– Incremental, radical and paradigmatic innovation
Institutional theory
– Innovation as inter-organizational process /
embedded agency
– Organizations are guided by institutions which results
in mimicry, conformity and lock-in
Science and Technology Studies
– Social construction of technology
– Actor Network Theory
(Nelson, Winter, Dosi):
(Abarnathy & Utterback)
(North, Scott, Hodgson)
(Bijker, Latour)
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Socio-Technical System (Geels, 2004)
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Socio-technical transitions: multi level perspective
(Geels, 2004)
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Socio-technical regimes (Kemp et al. 1998)
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A socio-technical regime is defined as
`the coherent complex of scientific knowledge, engineering practices,
production process technologies, product characteristics, skills and
procedures, established user needs, regulatory requirements,
institutions and infrastructures that make up the totality of a technology‘’
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A regime pre-defines the variation and selection
environment for an innovation
Helps explain why most change is non-radical
and geared to regime optimization
Constitutes a major barrier for new technology
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Example regime
Courtesy: Bernhard Truffer
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Niche
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Niches: protected spaces in which actors learn
about novel technologies and their uses and that
nurture novelty and protect radical innovations
against mainstream market selection
– Military demand
– Early markets
– Demonstration experiments
– Living labs
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Multi-level perspective: path dependence
versus path creation (Geels & Schot, 2006)
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Reproduction of regime: business as usual
Transformation path: the regime adapts to
landscape pressures without being threathened
by niches
Technological substitution: the existing regime is
replaced by a sufficiently strong niche
Reconfiguration: partial replacement of elements
if the regime by niche
De-alignment & re-alignment: in case of multiple
niches
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Transition policy: Strategic Niche Management
(Raven, 2005)
technical development: design specifications and required complementary
technology
user context: user characteristics, requirements, meanings and barriers to use
societal and environmental impact
industrial development: production and maintenance
government policy and regulatory framework.
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Geographical critique on Multi Level
Perspective
Obscured scalar dimensions:
• Risk of conflating levels & scales (particularly in
empirical applications of MLP)
• Overlooking important differences between scales and
the proximity advantages / disadvantages involved in
local-global transitions.
Institutions / rules are treated as footlose
• Implicit focus on country-specific regimes
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’Niche upscaling’
regime, landscape T1
regime, landscape T2
Local experiences
are translated in ‘global’
lessons and rules
Emerging
proto-regime
Shared rules (problem agendas, search heuristics,
expectations, abstract theories, technical models)
Structure,
co-ordination
Learning,
aggregation
Local experiments
are shared by
local networks
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Potential trading zones with RIS
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RIS <> history matters
Emergence (path creation) and renewal (path deviation)
EEG exclusively focused on firm-based routines and
competences
Emergence:
– Non-firms actors (social movement, academia, public
sector organizations)
– Mindful deviation / institutional entrepreneurship
Renewal:
– Related variety, branching & localization advantages
– Primary supply-side focused
– Relative neglect of demand-side factors & institutional
change
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Policy implications
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Clean tech, the next ’tech’ fantasy?
Transition policy <> broad innovation policy
Localized user-producer learning through niche
experimentation (public procurement)
Social innovation (purpose and process)
Lockin as a multiscalar, multidimensional
process (see also Grabher, Hassink)
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TIS: framework for analyzing the emergence and
formation of new technology
(Bergek et al., 2008)
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TIS: example
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Trading zones RIS and TIS
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RIS: ’inventory-like descriptions of regional
systems, with a tendency to focus on a static
landscape of actors and institutions, rather than
of functions, roles and relationships’ (Uyarra,
2010)
Functional analysis of RIS
– Transfer functions from cognate IS
approaches
– Derive a specific set of activities to construct
RIS
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Systemic failures and policy (Weber and Rohracher,
2012)
Structural system failures:
• Institutional failure
• Network failure
• Capabilities failure
Transformational system failures:
• Directionality failure
• Demand articulation failure
• Policy coordination failure
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TIS: geographical critique
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Many empirical TIS analyses implicitly focus on
national TIS
– An insufficient elaboration of coupling structures
between TIS and (specific) territorial innovation
systems
(Garud & Karnøe, 2003; Dewald & Truffer, 2010)
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Search for ‘universal’ mechanisms to explain TIS
dynamics
– Spatial configuration of technological innovation
system may leverage or inhibit system
performance
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Spatial gap in transition research
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Scale
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Emergence of new socio-technical configurations (niche / TIS)
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Multi-level & multi-scalar perspective on sustainability transitions
How do transition pathways unfold over time and space?
Technological niches & upscaling: regions & cities as primary sites
for niche experimentation & new industry formation
To what extent does emergence profit from proximity advantages?
Spatial embedding of socio-technical regimes
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Focus on regional & national variety in socio-technical regimes
Institutional comparative advantage
To what extent does the uneven distribution of regime forces open
up for transformative windows of opportunity?
Source: Coenen et al. (2012); Truffer and Coenen (2012)
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Biorefinery Örnsköldsvik
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Biorefinery transition from a spatial perspective
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Scale
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Emergence of new socio-technical configurations (niche / TIS)
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Local demonstration project
Upscaling through global networks
Multi-scalar policy environment
Lateral knowledge flows facilitated by proximity
Local initiative ‘held hostage’ by higher level institutions
Spatial embedding of socio-technical regimes
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Biorefinery initiative and the legacy of biofuel policy in Sweden
Swedish paper and pulp industry has a strategic interest in
biorefining to remain competitive
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