Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: The allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges

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.     

Exploiting technological opportunities: the timing of collaborations

High-technology companies that discover new technological opportunities face two critical decisions: whether and when to collaborate in exploiting these opportunities. Prior research has examined factors such as transaction costs that determine whether firms decide to collaborate. In this study, we aim to understand when firms collaborate in exploiting opportunities. To this end we study the history of 86 biopharmaceutical product-development projects. We find that factors that reduce articulation and appropriation uncertainties in these projects—patent protection, high R&D intensity of the discoverer, partners’ prior collaboration experience, and support infrastructures in the industry—can speed up collaboration. Interestingly, project-specific factors do not seem to affect timing.     

基于TRIZ理论面向企业技术创新平台的构建

在介绍TRIZ理论及其应用的基础上,分析了基于TRIZ理论面向企业技术创新平台的内涵和建设目标与原则,探讨了基于TRIZ理论面向企业技术创新平台的基本结构和各子平台的功能,以期为产学研合作创新平台的建构提供具体的思路,加强学校与企业科技创新的合作与交流。     

标准化、科技创新与新能源发展的关系研究

从科技创新、标准化促进新能源发展的机理出发,并以新能源汽车为例分析标准化、科技创新促进新能源汽车行业发展的过程,进而综合利用协整理论,以1990—2017年标准化、科技创新及新能源发展的数据为样本,对标准化、科技创新与新能源发展的关系进行实证研究,并依据实证结果从科技创新及标准化方面给出相关建议。     

Light emitting diodes and the lighting revolution: The emergence of a solid-state lighting industry

Emergence of new industries from evolving technologies is critical to the global economy, yet has been relatively understudied due to the paucity of available data. This study draws lessons on industry emergence, by analyzing how a solid-state lighting (SSL) industry grew out of light emitting diode (LED) technologies that evolved for half a century, with participation by tens of thousands of researchers in universities, national laboratories, and firms. Using data on publications, patents, and firms combined with business history we trace the evolution of SSL through a succession of market niches. At times a few researchers with unorthodox research approaches made breakthroughs that greatly advanced particular technology trajectories and pushed LED research in unexpected directions. A succession of LED market niches advanced the technology and provided profits to incentivize continuing research while reducing cost and improving efficacy of LEDs. Innovating firms developed a thicket of patents and captured substantial profit, but were embroiled in extensive litigation that was ultimately resolved through cross-licensing. A major new generation of lighting products is now disrupting the traditional lighting industry. Although the leading incumbent lighting firms all invested early and heavily in SSL, the industry's future leadership is uncertain.     

Prospective analysis of technological innovation systems: Identifying technological and organizational development options for biogas in Switzerland

In this article, we put forward a concept for the identification and analysis of future development options of technological innovation systems. The key element of our approach, the so-called variation analysis, is a methodology to identify coherent socio-technical and organizational variants within a specific innovation field. Consistent combinations of these two dimensions may be interpreted as nuclei for alternative future developments of innovation systems. The method may be used in discursive foresight processes to inform strategy formulation of firms or policy makers who see a utility in furthering the innovation field. The paper has a focus on developing the theoretical background and the analytical structure of the methodology. Empirically, we illustrate the method for the innovation system of biomass digestion in Switzerland.     

Integrating structural tensions into technological innovation systems analysis: Application to the case of transmission interconnections and renewable electricity in Nova Scotia,Canada

This paper augments the technological innovation systems (TIS) framework to provide policy guidance on how to manage interactions between a core technology and its larger sectoral context. A TIS development cycle is presented that combines the TIS framework’s ability to clearly illuminate policy gaps with Erik Dahmén’s idea that technological diffusion creates structural tensions that introduce transformation pressure. This pressure can result in stagnation and unrealized development potential or spur sectoral complementarities and the evolution of a TIS into a larger “development block” of interlinked technological systems. Integrating structural tensions into TIS analysis highlights how the evolution of a focal technology induces technological complementarities and creates a need to continuously re-design policies. This underscores the continued benefit of a technology system perspective, even as a technology matures.The revised TIS framework is applied to a case study of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia that explores how variable renewable electricity diffusion introduces structural tensions with existing electricity grids, requiring the use of complementary technologies that add storage and flexibility. Nova Scotia aggressively developed wind energy and built a high-voltage direct-current transmission line to import hydroelectricity that could back-up variable renewable energy sources like wind.     

Identification of innovating firms through technological innovation indicators: an application to the Spanish ceramic tile industry

The identification of technologically innovating firms is related to the development of indicators of their innovation activity. In this study, we carry out a review of indicators of firms’ technological innovation activity and then classify them according to whether they are based on inputs or outputs of the innovation process, and to the sources of the information they consider, whether primary or secondary. Their applicability as indicators of firm innovation is analyzed in the Spanish ceramic tile industry for the period from 1994 to 1996. From the results obtained we are able to conclude that the method based on direct information—self-assessment by managers—is more effective in identifying both product and process innovators. Within the set of methods based on secondary information, the literature-based innovation output (LBIO) method is the one which provides the best results when identifying product innovators alone.     

Shaping selection environments for industrial catch-up and sustainability transitions: A systemic perspective on endogenizing windows of opportunity

Transitioning economic sectors towards more sustainable futures is a major global challenge, in particular for non-OECD countries. Policymakers in these countries are confronted with a double challenge: how to implement cleaner technologies and infrastructures while at the same time promoting rapid industrial development. In catch-up studies, this trade-off has been increasingly interpreted as providing windows of opportunity for gaining strong leadership in new generations of cleantech industries. In this paper, we maintain that in order to specify how these windows of opportunity can be endogenized, a deeper understanding is needed about whether, how and by whom the directionality of innovation systems can be influenced. For this purpose, we propose an analytical approach that draws on the technological innovation system framework extending the current understanding of directionality in two ways: first, we complement the prevalent top-down perspective with a bottom-up view exemplified by the institutional entrepreneurship literature. Second, we posit that the focus has to be shifted from the manufacturing of single technologies to the transformation of entire socio-technical systems. The presented framework is validated by a case study on recent shifts in the dominant technology in China’s urban water management sector. Major changes in the country’s sectoral selection environment led membrane bioreactor technology to become the dominant design in urban water management – a development that is unmatched in any other country in the world. Owing to these transformations, China’s technology firms outcompete multinational players and therefore they show strong potentials for industrial leapfrogging. However, although the promise to solve environmental problems played a decisive role in the shaping of the selection environment, it remains unclear whether the observed transformation leads the way to a more sustainable sector structure in the longer run. The case, however, still enables us to specify how windows of opportunity can be endogenized through the interplay of different actors trying to shape different layers of the selection environment in a specific sector.     

Is the Internet a US invention?—an economic and technological history of computer networking

Although the inventions embodied in the Internet originated in a diverse set of industrial economies, the US was consistently the source of critical innovations and an early adopter of new applications. Why did other nations, including several that made important inventive contributions to the Internet, not play a larger role in its development, particularly in the creation of new business organizations, governance institutions, and applications? We argue that the role of the US “national innovation system” in the creation of the Internet echoes several key themes of US technological development before 1940. The presence of a large domestic market, a set of antitrust and regulatory policies that weakened the power of incumbent telecommunications firms, and a diverse private/public research community that was willing to work with both domestic and foreign inventions were important preconditions for US leadership in computer networking innovation.     

融资约束视角下政府补贴与企业技术创新:机理分析与广东数据检验

在深入分析政府补贴与企业技术创新两者作用机理基础上,建立门槛回归模型,利用2011—2019年广东战略性新兴产业上市企业数据,通过计量回归和门槛检验,得出研究结论：其一,企业融资约束对企业技术创新有负向影响,且存在单门槛效应,对于融资约束指数SA大于-3.352的企业,政府补贴对其创新的促进效果更显著;其二,政府补贴可以缓解企业融资约束,促进企业技术创新,但是对产权性质不同的企业的影响有差异,对非国有企业的影响更显著;其三,政府补贴不仅对企业技术创新有直接作用效应,也可通过缓解企业的融资约束间接促进企业技术创新,但是直接效应比间接效应更显著;其四,政府补贴并不是越多越好,存在单门槛效应,当补贴强度大于4.417%时,企业技术创新政策效果会显著减弱。     

Compulsive policy-making—The evolution of the German feed-in tariff system for solar photovoltaic power

In recent years, policy approaches that build upon the notion of innovation systems have enjoyed increasing attention in science, technology and innovation policy. But while the usefulness of systemic thinking in policy-making has been demonstrated in a large number of empirical settings, we still lack a detailed understanding of the dynamics at play when policy makers address systemic problems. In this paper, we show how complex interdependencies and the uncertain nature of technological change shape the process of targeted policy interventions in socio-technical systems. Toward this end we analyzed the evolution of the German feed-in tariff (FIT) system for solar photovoltaic power, a highly effective and widely copied policy instrument targeted at fostering the diffusion and development of renewable energy technologies. We find that the policy has been subject to a considerable amount of changes, many of which are the result of policy makers addressing specific system issues and bottlenecks. Interestingly, however, often these issues themselves were driven by unforeseen technological developments induced by previous policy interventions. We argue that the pattern of policy serving as both a solution to and a driver of technological bottlenecks shows strong similarities with what Rosenberg (1969) called ‘compulsive sequences’ in the development of technical systems. By shedding more light on how the characteristics of socio-technical systems affect policy interventions, our framework represents a first step toward more closely integrating the literature on innovation systems with the work on policy learning.     

The technological system of production and innovation: The case of photovoltaic technology in China

This research paper studies the Chinese technological system of production and innovation in the field of photovoltaics (PV). It contributes to a better understanding of the emergence and development of the system by utilizing three levels of analysis: the institutional framework of the system, the market dynamics of production and deployment, and the composition of innovation-related activities. The analysis demonstrates the interrelated roles of transnational factors, local government policies, and research and development (R&D) activities undertaken by the main actors in shaping the system dynamics. Tracking the relative position of China in the global PV manufacturing, installation and technological development, the analysis shows a gap between the growth of China’s market share and its modest share of transnational patent applications. This suggests a puzzle, which the paper attempts to answer by inspecting the individual companies in the system against four aspects. First, the dynamic development of their size and performance. Second, the nature of their international involvement through foreign direct investment and mergers and acquisition deals. Third, their technological specialization within the PV value chain over time. Fourth, the spatial scope of their patenting protection endeavours. The analysis recognises four periods of system development driven jointly by market dynamics and government plans. Behind the continuous growth of the system, there were different driving and moderating factors in each period.     

Measuring technological capabilities at the country level: A survey and a menu for choice

Several new measures of national technological capabilities have recently been developed. These attempts are a result of an often-implicit theoretical consensus about the nature of technology. The aim of this article is to compare their methodologies and results. The World Economic Forum (WEF), the UN Development Program (UNDP), the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and the RAND Corporation are the institutions that have provided the measures examined here. We compare these authoritative attempts with our own measure of technological capability, ArCo. The results provide a broadly comparable ranking of countries, although a few significant differences do emerge.     

In search of systemic innovation for sustainable development: A design praxis emerging from a decade of social learning inquiry

Processes of designing for systemic innovation for sustainable development (SD) through the lens of three long-term case studies are reported. All case studies, which originated from the SLIM (Social Learning for the Integrated Management and Sustainable Use of Water at Catchment Scale) Project, funded within the EU Fifth Framework Program (2001–2004), constitute inquiry pathways that are explored using a critical incident approach. The initial starting conditions for each inquiry pathway are compared; significant pathway dependencies are identified which foster the development of social learning processes locally, but constrain their uptake and embedding across the wider system of interest. In the first case study, in England & Wales, promising developments in the application of social learning approaches to river basin planning over an initial 3-year period were subsequently marginalised, only to resurface towards the end of the 10-year period of study. In the second, South African case study, significant spaces for social learning and innovation in integrated water resources management were opened up over a five year period but closed down again, primarily as the result of lack of policy support by national government. The third, Italian, case study was designed to assess options for adapting to climate change by opening up new learning spaces between researchers, stakeholders and policy makers. A case for investing in local level systemic innovation through social-learning praxis design approaches and in learning processes around well contextualised case-studies is supported. However, concomitant investment by policy makers in social learning as an alternative, but complementary, governance mechanism for systemic innovation for SD is needed.     

Creating competition?: Globalisation and the emergence of new technology producers

This paper studies the role of globalisation (through trade, inward FDI and international migration) in the emergence of new countries as contributors to technology generation in the world economy. Increasing FDI is a factor causing the emergence of newer countries with the more sophisticated technology generation associated with patenting, but not in the recent surge of newer countries with the basic capabilities needed to become licensors in the world economy. Yet increases in the international spread of subsidiary research efforts in MNCs have tended on average to reinforce the position of established centres of higher grade technological activity.     

组织创新网络中的中间人角色及其影响因素——以中国制药技术领域为例

 借鉴Gould和Fernandez的中间人分类方法,基于专利合作数据分析了中国制药技术领域组织创新网络中的中间人角色及其影响因素,讨论了中间人角色的转变路径以及组织创新网络的演变模式。结果表明：组织创新网络中的中间人主要是协调人、守门人和代理人,顾问和联络人较少;不同性质及不同区域的组织中间人角色存在较大差异。组织知识基础、吸收能力与组织所属区域知识基础对组织创新网络中的中间人角色及其转变路径有较大影响,不同的中间人在组织创新网络演变的不同阶段发挥不同作用。     

社团文化建设:科技社团自身建设的新视界

<正>科技社团自身建设是关系到科技社团生存和发展的问题。过去科技社团自身建设,多偏重于组织机构和活动设施等硬件建设,而对软件建设即文化建设却抓得不够。由于社团文化发展乏力,制约着社团的培育和发展。社团文化建设是当前科技社团自身建设中的一个极为重要的问题。     

Accounting for change in national systems of innovation: A friendly critique based on the U.S. case

This paper advances a friendly critique of the national systems of innovation approach and offers some suggestions for its future development. I argue that the approach has difficulty accounting for bounded change in national systems. I review three recent changes in the U.S. innovation system - the Internet boom and bust of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the acceleration of productivity growth since the mid-1990s - in order to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the framework in this respect. Future research might be enriched, at least in the case of large national innovation systems, by absorbing concepts developed in other strands of institutionalist literature, such as “intercurrence” and “embeddedness”.     

The economic impact of technological procurement for large-scale research infrastructures: Evidence from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, is the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator. Its construction (1995–2008) required frontier technologies and close collaboration between CERN scientists and contracting firms. The literature on “Big Science” projects suggests that this collaboration generated economic spillovers, particularly through technological learning. CERN granted us access to its procurement database, including suppliers of LHC from 35 countries for orders over 10,000 Swiss Francs. We gathered balance-sheet data for more than 350 of these companies from 1991 to 2014, which include the years before and after that of the first order received. The study assesses, in quantitative terms, whether becoming a CERN supplier induced greater R&D effort and innovative capacity, thus enhancing productivity and profitability. The findings – which controlled for firms’ observable characteristics, macroeconomic conditions, and unobserved time, country, industry and firm-level fixed effects – indicate a statistically significant correlation between procurement events and company R&D, knowledge creation and economic performance. The correlation is chiefly driven by high-tech orders; for companies receiving non-high-tech orders, it is weaker, or even statistically not significant.