Although radical innovations are expected to play an increasing role in sustainable development by changing existing (unsustainable) systems, many of them do not succeed. This paper describes one such failure of innovation in the sanitation sector and offers insight into how innovators could redirect the innovation process to bring about real change. Drawing on practice theory in combination with the multilevel perspective on sustainability transitions, we identify elements of practices associated with a sanitation innovation and analyse how these interact with established practices in the sanitation sector. We establish the factors that facilitated and impeded this innovation's ability to create change. Based primarily on interviews conducted during a longitudinal case study undertaken between 2012 and 2018, our results suggest that: 1) the division of practice into elements of material, activity, competence and meaning facilitates a detailed analysis of how the innovation interacts with existing practices; 2) innovators may need to act as activists to align the meanings ascribed to the practice at hand across the regime actors, and 3) understanding the different elements of practice helps identify lock-ins that prevent niche innovations from succeeding. We conclude that it is necessary to change the practices of more resourceful actors in different parts of the regime, especially in policy, in order to move beyond experimental stages of innovation.

尽管人们期望通过改变现有的（不可持续的）系统来进行重大创新，从而在可持续发展中发挥越来越重要的作用，但其中许多都不会成功。本文描述了环卫行业创新失败的一个例子，并提供了有关创新者如何重新引导创新过程以实现真正变革的见解。结合实践理论和可持续发展转型的多层次视角，我们确定了与卫生创新相关的实践要素，并分析了这些要素与卫生领域既有实践之间的相互作用。我们建立了促进和阻碍创新进行变革的能力的因素。主要基于2012年至2018年间进行的纵向案例研究期间的访谈，我们的结果表明：1）将实践分为物质，活动，能力和含义等要素，有助于对创新与现有实践的相互作用方式进行详细分析；2）创新者可能需要扮演积极分子的角色，以使各政权参与者在实践中所赋予的含义一致，并且3）了解实践的不同要素有助于确定阻碍利基创新成功的锁定因素。我们得出结论，为了超越创新的试验阶段，有必要改变政权不同部分，尤其是政策方面更多机智的行为者的做法。2）创新者可能需要扮演积极分子的角色，以使各政权参与者在实践中所赋予的含义一致，并且3）了解实践的不同要素有助于确定阻碍利基创新成功的锁定因素。我们得出结论，为了超越创新的试验阶段，有必要改变政权不同部分，尤其是政策方面更多机智的行为者的做法。2）创新者可能需要扮演积极分子的角色，以使各政权参与者在实践中所赋予的含义一致，并且3）了解实践的不同要素有助于确定阻碍利基创新成功的锁定因素。我们得出结论，为了超越创新的试验阶段，有必要改变政权不同部分，尤其是政策方面更多机智的行为者的做法。