Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Guest editorial -- Policy coherence as a demand for excellence in Iranian bio-production industry -- Evaluation of the effect of R& -- D subsidies on Iranian firms' innovative behavior -- Iranian firms in biopharmaceutical value chain: where to go now? -- How to balance your technology sourcing portfolio in a developing country -- Multi-level drivers of catching up in complex product systems: an Iranian gas turbine producer -- Innovation policy-making in the upstream oil and gas industry as a large technical system under economic transition.

The technological innovation systems framework (TIS) is widely used to study the emergence and growth of new technological fields and industries. At the same time, it has been criticized for a number of issues and innovation scholars have made suggestions of how to improve the framework. In this viewpoint, we respond to six areas of criticism: (1) TIS context, (2) system delineation, (3) spatial aspects, (4) transitions, (5) politics, and (6) policy recommendations. We point to promising conceptual developments of how to address shortcomings and highlight needs for further research. We also discuss the prospects of the TIS approach for the analysis of socio-technical transitions. The TIS framework, in our view, has the potential to outgrow its original scope - explaining the dynamics and performance of a technological field - and to address many of the issues relevant when studying transitions.

The starting point is that the current energy system is largely dependant on fossil fuels. This phenomenon, which is labelled as carbon lock-in by Unruh (2000), makes the breakthrough of renewable energies long, slow, and tedious. The most suitable theoretical approach to analyse the development, diffusion and implementation of emergent technologies, such as renewable energies, is the Technological Innovation Systems' (TIS) perspective as developed by Carlsson and Stanckiewicz (1991). This approach focuses on a particular technology and includes all those factors (institutions, actors, and networks) that influence its development. Recent research has identified several so-called System Functions that need to be fulfilled for a TIS to support successfully the evolution of a technology. In this paper we will use the following set of System Functions: F1: Entrepreneurial Activities, F2: Knowledge Development (learning), F3: Knowledge Diffusion through Networks, F4: Guidance of the Search, F5: Market Formation, F6: Resources Mobilisation, F7: Counteracting Resistance to Change (also Support from Advocacy Coalitions). By focusing on the System Functions the key processes that occur in a system which influence the development, diffusion and implementation of that technology will be identified and insight will be gained in the system dynamics. The System Functions are not independent but interact and influence each other. The nature of interactions whether they are positive or negative will influence the performance of the system respectively. Positive System Function fulfilment can lead to positive, i.e. virtuous cycles of processes that strengthen each other and lead to the building up of momentum that creates a process of creative destruction within the incumbent system (Jacobsson and Bergek 2004). According to the same reasoning, a system in decline is characterised by one or more vicious cycles, where the System Functions interact and reinforce each other in a negative way. The results from the case studies showed that different functional patterns occurred for the Biomass Innovation Systems. These can be divided into virtuous and vicious cycles. In the case of virtuous cycles a successful diffusion of the respective technologies occurred (for example biomass digestion in Germany and biomass co-firing in the Netherlands), whereas low diffusion is observed for the technologies (for example biomass digestion, biomass gasification and stand-alone biomass combustion in the Netherlands) where vicious cycles dominated the system. Furthermore, the findings show that biomass technologies go through long-term trajectories (10-30 years) of development, diffusion and implementation. However, the Dutch government only provided short-term policies and removed all support when the technical problems were not solved within this short term. In order to accelerate the diffusion of biomass energy technologies a long-term and stable guidance by the government is needed where time and space for trial and error are provided, where a market is formed and where entrepreneurs pack together to lobby for better institutional conditions for their technology.

For their technological sustainability innovations to become successful, entrepreneurs can strategically shape the technological field in which they are involved. The technological innovation systems (TISs) literature has generated valuable insights into the processes which need to be stimulated for the successful development and implementation of innovative sustainability technologies. To explore the applicability of the TIS framework from the perspective of entrepreneurs, we conducted a case study in the Dutch smart grids sector. We found that the TIS framework generally matches the perspectives of entrepreneurs. For its use by entrepreneurs, we suggest a slight adaptation of this framework. The process 'Market formation' needs to be divided into processes that are driven by the government and processes that are driven by entrepreneurs. There should be a greater emphasis on collaborative marketing, on changing user behaviour and preferences and on the development of fair and feasible business models.

Abstract This paper addresses interactions between technological innovation systems (TIS) and wider "context structures". While TIS studies have always considered various kinds of contextual influences, we suggest that the TIS framework can be further strengthened by a more elaborated conceptualization of TIS context structures and TIS–context interactions. For that purpose, we identify and discuss four especially important types of context structures: technological, sectorial, geographical and political. For each of these, we provide examples of different ways in which context structures can interact with a focal TIS and how our understanding of TIS dynamics is enhanced by considering them explicitly. Lessons for analysts are given and a research agenda is outlined.

This paper addresses interactions between technological innovation systems (TIS) and wider "context structures". While TIS studies have always considered various kinds of contextual influences, we suggest that the TIS framework can be further strengthened by a more elaborated conceptualization of TIS context structures and TIS-context interactions. For that purpose, we identify and discuss four especially important types of context structures: technological, sectorial, geographical and political. For each of these, we provide examples of different ways in which context structures can interact with a focal TIS and how our understanding of TIS dynamics is enhanced by considering them explicitly. Lessons for analysts are given and a research agenda is outlined.

The need for challenge-led innovation policies to address grand societal challenges is increasingly recognised at various policy levels. This raises questions how to overcome a variety of 'failures' prohibiting innovations to flourish. A key-line of thought in theory and policy emerged since the late 1990s on the role of system failures, next to more conventional market-failure thinking. More recently, scholarly work introduced the notion of 'transformational failures', which implies an even broader perspective on innovation failures as resting in challenges related to transforming entire systems of production and consumption. This paper combines the literature on Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) with literature on multi-level approaches to sustainability transitions to make a contribution to this debate. In particular, this paper argues that the current literature, so far, has failed to explore how different kinds of policies, or policy mixes, can overcome transformational failures. The paper uses a simulation model (i.e. a system dynamics model) and illustrative examples on electric vehicles to explore relations between transformational failures and (mixes of) policy interventions. A key conclusion is that, in particular in the case where an emerging TIS is in a competitive relation with an incumbent system, overcoming transformational failures can be realised either by directly addressing the incumbent system, for instance by taking away its resources (which may be political challenging). Alternatively, the model results show that a clever mix of policy interventions elsewhere in the system may lead to sufficient performance improvements of the emerging TIS so that it can challenge the incumbent system on its own – albeit with a need for substantial additional resources.