1 L U N D S U N I V E R S I T E T Innovation and sustainability transitions in regional innovation...

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L U N D S U N I V E R S I T E T

Innovation and sustainability transitions in regional innovation

systems

NORSI/PING PhD course ‘Innovation Systems, Clusters and Innovation Policy’

Lars CoenenCIRCLE & NIFU, Oslo

[email protected]

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Overview of lecture

• 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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0

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100

150

200

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300

350

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2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

Fina

l ene

rgy

(EJ/

a)

NuclearCoalNatural gasOilBio: AlgaeBio: CropsBio: Comp.Fellings*Bio: TraditionalBio: Resid.&WasteHydropowerGeo: HeatGeo: ElectricitySolar thermalConc. solar: HeatConc. solar: PowerPhotovoltaic solarWave & TidalWind: Off-shoreWind: On-shore

Source: Ecofys

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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)

• 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)

– 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’

• 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)

• A burgeoning field of research (Markard et al., 2012)– Environmental innovations (products, technologies,

lifestyles)– Sectoral transformation processes & emerging industries– Core concepts

• Process: Social construction, evolution• Structures: Systemic interactions• Policies: Transition Management

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Theoretical origins

(Economic) Evolutionary theory (Nelson, Winter, Dosi):

– Change as a process of variation, selection and retention

– Dominant design (Abarnathy & Utterback)

– Incremental, radical and paradigmatic innovation

Institutional theory (North, Scott, Hodgson) – Innovation as inter-organizational process /

embedded agency– Organizations are guided by institutions which

results in mimicry, conformity and lock-inScience and Technology Studies (Bijker, Latour)

– Social construction of technology– Actor Network Theory

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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)

• 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‘’

• 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

• 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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L U N D S U N I V E R S I T E TMulti-level perspective: path dependence versus path creation (Geels & Schot, 2006)

• 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’

S hared ru le s (p rob lem ag end as, sea rch heu ris tic s , expec ta tions, ab strac t th eo ries , te ch n ica l m od els)

L e a rn in g , a g g re g a tio n

L ocal ex per iencesa re tran sla ted in ‘g lob al’lesson s and ru les

L ocal ex per im en tsa re sha red by local n etw orks

S tru c tu re ,c o -o rd in a tio n

E m erg in g p ro to -reg im e

regime, landscape T1regime, landscape T2

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Potential trading zones with RIS

• 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

• 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

• 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 failureTransformational system failures:• Directionality failure• Demand articulation failure• Policy coordination failure

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TIS: geographical critique

• 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)

• 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

• Scale– Multi-level & multi-scalar perspective on sustainability

transitions– How do transition pathways unfold over time and space?

• Emergence of new socio-technical configurations (niche / TIS)– 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– 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

http://www.bioraffinaderi.se/projectweb/portalproject/Home_en.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SverigesL%C3%A4n2007V%C3%A4sternorrland.svg

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Biorefinery transition from a spatial perspective

• Scale– Local demonstration project– Upscaling through global networks– Multi-scalar policy environment

• Emergence of new socio-technical configurations (niche / TIS)– Lateral knowledge flows facilitated by proximity– Local initiative ‘held hostage’ by higher level institutions

• Spatial embedding of socio-technical regimes– 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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