Beyond innovation and deployment: Modeling the impact of technology-push and demand-pull policies in Germany's solar policy mix

Governments around the world try to accelerate sociotechnical change toward sustainability by introducing policy mixes that combine technology-push and demand-pull instruments. Beyond innovation and deployment, other objectives, such as domestic job and industry creation, are usually part of these policy mixes. However, little is known about how policy mixes should be designed and interactions between policy instruments considered when governments try to achieve multiple objectives simultaneously. We address these questions using an agent-based model of the sociotechnical system for solar photovoltaics in Germany that simulates technology adoption, industry dynamics, international spillovers and trade. By changing public spending on research and development and the solar feed-in tariff, forty-five variations of the historical policy mix in Germany are systematically evaluated. The results show that a narrow focus on innovation and deployment outcomes by academic researchers can lead to recommendations for the design of policy mixes that compromise key dimensions of sociotechnical change, such as job creation. Moreover, the simulations reveal that, because of path-dependent interactions between policy instruments, minor changes in the design of policy instruments can lead to vastly different policy outcomes. These findings have important implications for the literature on policy mixes, technology-push and demand-pull instruments, and sociotechnical transitions.     

Policy mixes for sustainability transitions: New approaches and insights through bridging innovation and policy studies

There has been an increasing interest in science, technology and innovation policy studies in the topic of policy mixes. While earlier studies conceptualised policy mixes mainly in terms of combinations of instruments to support innovation, more recent literature extends the focus to how policy mixes can foster sustainability transitions. For this, broader policy mix conceptualisations have emerged which also include considerations of policy goals and policy strategies; policy mix characteristics such as consistency, coherence, credibility and comprehensiveness; as well as policy making and implementation processes. It is these broader conceptualisations of policy mixes which are the subject of the special issue introduced in this article. We aim at supporting the emergence of a new strand of interdisciplinary social science research on policy mixes which combines approaches, methods and insights from innovation and policy studies to further such broader policy mix research with a specific focus on fostering sustainability transitions. In this article we introduce this topic and present a bibliometric analysis of the literature on policy mixes in both fields as well as their emerging connections. We also introduce five major themes in the policy mix literature and summarise the contributions made by the articles in the special issue to these: methodological advances; policy making and implementation; actors and agency; evaluating policy mixes; and the co-evolution of policy mixes and socio-technical systems. We conclude by summarising key insights for policy making.     

Policy mixes for business model innovation: The case of off-grid energy for sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa

Business model innovation (BMI) is often complementary to technological innovation and offers novel and sustainable value creation opportunities. Enabling BMI through policy is difficult, however, and not yet well understood in practice or theory. We build on the quickly evolving literature on policy mixes to develop a theoretical model which explains how policy strategies and instruments shape the conditions for BMI. We derive the model inductively by studying the emergence of an off-grid renewable energy BMI in sub-Saharan Africa which proposes to actively create sustainable development in rural areas as opposed to merely increase energy access, drawing from 61 interviews with companies and industry experts as well as policy documents across six African countries. Our model has three core theoretical implications. First, focusing on policy strategies, policy instruments and their respective interactions, we uncover a set of mechanisms that explain how policy mix elements combine to create conducive conditions for BMI. Second, we shed light on the role of multiple objectives and goals within a policy mix for fostering BMI, which, if balanced appropriately, can create a productive tension between support and constraints. Third, we suggest the distinction between sector-specific and society-wide policy mixes as an analytical tool to study these tensions in policy mix research.     

The co-evolution of policy mixes and socio-technical systems: Towards a conceptual framework of policy mix feedback in sustainability transitions

Understanding how policymaking processes can influence the rate and direction of socio-technical change towards sustainability is an important, yet underexplored research agenda in the field of sustainability transitions. Some studies have sought to explain how individual policy instruments can influence transitions, and the politics surrounding this process. We argue that such individual policy instruments can cause wider feedback mechanisms that influence not only their own future development, but also other instruments in the same area. Consequently, by extending the scope of analysis to that of a policy mix allows us to account for multiple policy effects on socio-technical change and resultant feedback mechanisms influencing the policy processes that underpin further policy mix change. This paper takes a first step in this regard by combining policy studies and innovation studies literatures to conceptualise the co-evolutionary dynamics of policy mixes and socio-technical systems. We focus on policy processes to help explain how policy mixes influence socio-technical change, and how changes in the socio-technical system also shape the evolution of the policy mix. To do so we draw on insights from the policy feedback literature, and propose a novel conceptual framework. The framework highlights that policy mixes aiming to foster sustainability transitions need to be designed to create incentives for beneficiaries to mobilise further support, while overcoming a number of prevailing challenges which may undermine political support over time. In the paper, we illustrate the framework using the example of the zero carbon homes policy mix in the UK. We conclude with deriving research and policy implications for analysing and designing dynamic policy mixes for sustainability transitions.     

Assessing the effects of a deliberate policy mix: The case of technology and innovation advisory services and innovation vouchers

While innovation policy mixes combining several policy instruments have been advocated as a response to complex problems, there is very little evidence of their effectiveness compared to that of individual instruments. By considering a set of Italian regional policy programmes implemented in 2011–2014, we analysed a policy mix composed of: (i) technology and innovation advisory services, the aim of which is to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to gain a better awareness of their innovation needs and of how to address them; and (ii) innovation vouchers, which are used to subsidise SME purchases of knowledge-intensive services. To draw causal inferences on their differential effectiveness, we adopted a propensity-score-matching approach extended to multiple treatment levels.We found that advisory services are more effective than innovation vouchers and as effective as policy mixes in increasing SME propensity to innovate and engage in R&D collaborations. Conversely, policy mixes are more effective than each individual instrument in increasing productivity. Hence, merely providing SMEs with technology and innovation advice is not sufficient to elicit productivity improvements; SMEs also need to act on such advice by working with external providers of knowledge-intensive services in order to implement efficiency-producing changes.     

Do policy mix characteristics matter for low-carbon innovation? A survey-based exploration of renewable power generation technologies in Germany

Policy mixes may play a crucial role in redirecting and accelerating innovation towards low-carbon solutions, thus addressing a key societal challenge. Towards this end, some argue that the characteristics of such policy mixes matter greatly, yet with little empirical evidence backing up such claims. In this paper we explore this link between policy mix characteristics and low-carbon innovation, using the research case of the transition of the German electricity system towards renewable energy. Our empirical insights are based on an innovation survey administered to German manufacturers of renewable power generation technologies which builds on the Community Innovation Survey. For our purposes we adjusted the survey to better capture companies’ perceptions of policy mixes. Employing a bivariate Tobit model we find evidence that companies’ perceptions regarding the consistency and credibility of the policy mix are positively associated with their innovation expenditures for renewable energies, and this positive link intensifies when considering the mutual interdependence of these policy mix characteristics. In contrast, neither the comprehensiveness of the instrument mix nor the coherence of policy processes were found to be related to innovation expenditures. Overall, these findings suggest that future research on low-carbon and eco-innovation should pay greater attention to the characteristics of policy mixes, rather than focusing on policy instruments only. Finally, our findings indicate a need to consider how policy may be measured in innovation surveys to generate better informed policy advice regarding the greening of innovation.     

Mapping the mix: Linking instruments,settings and target groups in the study of policy mixes

This article proposes the extension of a conceptual framework aimed at analysing policy mixes and their outcomes and demonstrates its value added for the study of sustainability transitions. The argument is that policy mixes research should not focus only on the form of policy instruments, but also on their implementation context. Policy mix form designates the specific policy instruments that are involved according to a policy strategy. Policy mix context includes the specific setting where each policy measure is implemented, such as enterprise or family. It also includes the specific target group of each measure, such as youth or smokers. We apply this conceptual framework to the policy concept and implementation of tobacco control policies in Switzerland, which are an exemplary case for analysing transitions as they are geared towards behavioural change. In a mixed method approach, we triangulate different sets of quantitative and qualitative indicators in order to assess the implementation of eleven subnational policy mixes. Our findings show that taking into account the moderating role of settings between policy instruments and target groups allows for a more in depth analysis of policy processes. Observing the interactions between the four elements policy instruments, policy strategy, the implementation settings and the target groups allows capturing the complexity of policy mixes, at the crossroads of policy design, policy implementation and policy outcomes. Taking implementation settings and target groups into account in the analysis of policy mixes allows for a refined understanding of policy compliance and thus, from a broader perspective, of sustainability transitions.     

现代科技创新政策发展的四个特点

论述现代科技创新政策发展的4个特点:更强调创新政策的形成是一个学习过程;区域创新政策的意义和特点受到了更多的重视;政策手段的设计和应用更具合作导向性质;不同国家和地区的创新政策具有趋同性。     

The politics of research and innovation: Understanding instrument choices in complex governance environments – the case of France and Italy

What governments desire to achieve, and how they want to accomplish their goals, represent the core of any policy design process. However, it is still unclear how partisan politics, in its combined effect with path-dependency forces, influence policy makers’ choices over alternative instrument mixes. Through a comparative analysis of Research and Innovation (R&I) instrument choices in countries characterized by different paradigmatic models of policy (Italy and France), the paper investigates how the politics of different cabinets influence the formulation of national R&I strategies and the extent to which these decisions are constrained by the legacy of previous choices. By capitalizing on a new proposed treatment of policy instruments, the paper contributes to the definition of the types of tools found in policy mixes, investigating how national R&I instrument mix variations develop. The results of the analysis indicate how the selection of R&I policy instruments does not closely follow traditional left versus right-wing political cleavages, and their evolution is generally influenced by a combination of different context-dependent dynamics. However, when partisan acceptance of consolidated R&I instrument mixes across cabinets is present, this triggers a consolidating effect on path-dependency forces.     

Patent systems for encouraging innovation: Lessons from economic analysis

Economic theory views patents as policy instruments aimed at fostering innovation and diffusion. Three major implications are drawn regarding current policy debates. First, patents may not be the most effective means of protection for inventors to recover R&D investments when imitation is costly and first mover advantages are important. Second, patentability requirements, such as novelty or non-obviousness, should be sufficiently stringent to avoid the grant of patents for inventions with low social value that increase the social cost of the patent system. Third, the trade-off between the patent policy instruments of length and breadth could be used to provide sufficient incentives to develop inventions with high social value. Beyond these three implications, economic theory also pleads for a mechanism design approach: an optimal patent system could be based on a menu of different degrees of patent protection where stronger protection would involve higher fees, allowing self-selection by inventors.     

The verticality of policy mixes for sustainability transitions: A case study of solar water heating in China

Climate change and sustainable development are the defining challenges of the modern era. The field of sustainability transitions seeks systematic solutions for fundamental transformations of socio-technical systems towards sustainability, and exploring the role of policy mixes has been a central research agenda within the field. In the extant literature, there exists a lack of both conceptual and empirical research on the vertical dimension of policy mixes for sustainability transitions. This study provides a multilevel and evolutionary interpretation of the vertical interactions of policy mixes in the process of industrial path development towards sustainability transitions. An exemplary case of solar water heating (SWH) technology in Shandong Province in China is presented, capturing both the bottom-up and top-down processes of interactions. On the one hand, urban-level policy initiatives can inform higher-level policymaking; on the other hand, national-level priorities can greatly configure policy strategies for lower-level governments. Moreover, as the industry matures, the interactions of multilevel policy mixes evolve from simpler, unidirectional patterns to more complex, bidirectional ones through a vertical policy-learning feedback mechanism. This study generates two important policy implications that extend beyond the Chinese context: first, dynamic vertical interactions between multilevel governments indicate the need to develop more nuanced perspectives on the design of policy mixes; second, policy makers need to hold a more dynamic view of policy mixes by recognizing their temporal and coevolutionary nature through the policy learning process.     

新形势下创新产品政府采购国际规则及对策研究

政府采购创新产品是各国激发企业创新活力的有效方式。全面梳理新时期背景下政府采购国际规则，系统分析我国早期政府采购创新产品政策的受限机理，并结合国际政府采购本国创新产品经验，提出我国要进一步规范创新产品政府采购政策、大力推广首购等创新产品政府采购方式、加大对发达国家政府采购创新产品经验的研究、研究制定基于创新过程的创新产品激励政策等对策建议。     

基于企业技术创新激励的环境工具的最优选择——利用排序多元Logit模型及离散计数数据模型的实证分析

 以往关于环境政策工具对企业技术创新激励效应的研究都是基于简单的线性回归分析,不能对环境政策工具的企业技术创新激励效应进行明确的比较与排序。有鉴于此,本文首先采用排序多元Logit模型,基于上海市相关数据,对排放标准、排污费、补贴及排污许可证,四种环境政策工具进行比较与排序。研究发现,工业废水排放量、废气排放量与政府对该产业施行的环境政策工具从补贴、排放许可证、排污费到排放标准的选择概率成反比;产业集中度、技术创新与政府对该产业施行的环境政策工具从补贴、排放许可证、排污费到排放标准的选择概率成正比。其次,本文通过模型预测发现,上海市各产业目前实际实施的环境政策工具与预测环境政策工具之间存在差异,并得出各产业的最优环境政策工具的选择。最后,通过离散计数数据模型得出,四种环境政策工具对企业技术创新都有正的激励效应,其排序为：补贴、排污费、排污许可证、排放标准。研究成果可以为政府选择最优环境政策工具提供决策依据。     

促进产学合作政策工具:英、美与中国比较研究

随着社会经济的发展,如何充分运用大学产生的知识基础,以促进产业创新与经济竞争力,成为当今政府的当务之急,而产学合作也成为创新政策工具中最主要的一环。本文针对各国政府所推动的各项产学合作方案,分析其对体制上、合作动机、合作障碍、合作机制运用的影响与实施成果。以个案研讨的方式,比较分析英国、美国产学合作的各项政策工具与方案的成效,并对我国的产学研合作政策提出相关建议。     

中国碳市场顶层设计重大问题及建议

基于中国碳市场建立的背景、社会经济影响及其有效运行条件,文章系统分析了与中国碳市场顶层设计密切相关的重大议题,包括中长期经济可持续发展、区域协调发展、产业及经济结构调整、低碳技术创新、能源市场化改革、与其他能源环境政策之间的协同互补等。根据中国当前经济发展阶段及未来改革发展方向,对未来全国碳市场顶层设计提出了相应的政策建议。     

Policy-mix evaluation: Governance challenges from new place-based innovation policies

The policy mix concept has become popular in innovation policy literature. It is particularly relevant for complex challenges such as sustainable industrial transitions that require joined-up interventions from different policy domains. Yet finding the right policy mix for a given challenge is strongly conditioned by the governance context in which individual policies emerge and evolve over time. In particular, the evaluation of policy mixes in a regional context is often neglected.This paper aims to deepen understanding of the interaction between governance processes and policy mix evaluation in the specific context of smart specialisation strategies. These newly popular regional innovation strategies are ideal laboratories for analysing policy mixes due to their place-based nature, their directionality, their experimental character and potential orientation towards grand societal challenges, and their complex governance context.The paper builds on the smart specialisation literature, the innovation policy and policy evaluation literature, and the literature on governance in pluralistic contexts to build a conceptual framework for analysing the governance of policy-mix evaluation. The conceptual arguments are illustrated by the Basque Country case in Spain, providing insights on the establishment of a strategic innovation policy mix evaluation process in a complex setting of institutions and actors.     

Broadening out and opening up technology assessment: Approaches to enhance international development,co-ordination and democratisation

Technology assessment (TA) has a strong history of helping to identify priorities and improve environmental sustainability, cost-effectiveness and wider benefits in the technology policies and innovation strategies of nation-states. At international levels, TA has the potential to enhance the roles of science, technology and innovation towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, effectively implementing the UN Framework on Climate Change and fostering general global transitions to ‘green economies’. However, when effectively recommending single ostensibly ‘best’ technologies or strategies, TA practices can serve unjustifiably to ‘close down’ debate, failing adequately to address technical uncertainties and social ambiguities, reducing scope for democratic accountability and co-ordination across scales and contexts. This paper investigates ways in which contrasting processes ‘broadening out’ and ‘opening up’ TA can enhance both rigour and democratic accountability in technology policy, as well as facilitating social relevance and international cooperation. These methods allow TA to illuminate options, uncertainties and ambiguities and so inform wider political debates about how the contending questions, values and knowledges of different social interests often favour contrasting innovation pathways. In this way TA can foster both technical robustness and social legitimacy in subsequent policy-making. Drawing on three empirical case studies (at local, national and international levels), the paper discusses detailed cases and methods, where recent TA exercises have contributed to this ‘broadening out’ and ‘opening up’. It ends by exploring wider implications and challenges for national and international technology assessment processes that focus on global sustainable development challenges.     

从R&D到R&3D:基于全生命周期视角的新能源技术创新分析框架及政策启示

本文从新能源技术创新的规律出发,基于技术生命周期和技术创新过程的视角,分析将R&D拓展为R&3D(研究、开发、示范、推广)的理论基础和政策意义,重点论述示范和推广这两个阶段的技术创新特点。文章认为,在新能源技术创新的示范阶段,由于市场失灵的存在,产生了基础设施的悖论;在推广阶段,由于不确定性的存在,产生了"死亡之谷"和"达尔文之海"的鸿沟。文章指出,政府应当考虑到R&3D各阶段的技术创新特点,制定针对性的公共政策来促进新能源技术创新和产业发展。     

基于政策工具与创新价值链双重视角的科技成果转化政策国际比较研究

在政策工具和创新价值链双重视角下,本文选取美国、欧盟、日本、韩国和以色列五个国家的科技成果转化政策作为研究对象,比较分析五个国家在政策手段和目的上的特点与差异,以期为中国科技成果转化政策的完善给予政策指引。结果表明,五个国家的供给型政策工具和环境型政策工具存在过溢现象,需求型政策工具运用不足。在推动创新价值链各环节中,不同国家在不同环节的侧重点有所不同,同一环节运用的政策工具类型存在较大差异。美国、日本和以色列等国家在研究开发阶段运用的政策工具比在商业化与产业化阶段来得多,欧盟和韩国的情况则相反,但五个国家在生产试验阶段运用的政策工具都最少。     

Innovation on demand—Can public procurement drive market success of innovations?

Public procurement has been at the centre of recent discussions on innovation policy. We embed it into the broader framework of public policies to stimulate innovation: regulations, R&D subsidies and basic research at universities. We synthesize the characteristics of all four instruments conceptionally and quantitatively compare their effects on innovation success for 1100 firms in Germany. We find that public procurement and knowledge spillovers from universities propel innovation success equally. The benefits of university knowledge apply uniformly to all firms. However, public procurement is especially effective for smaller firms in regions under economic stress and in distributive or technological services.