Transformative governance of innovation ecosystems

doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121106

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

Volume 173, December 2021, 121106

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121106 Get rights and content

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Highlights

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The notion of transformative governance is elaborated seeking to improve the adaptiveness and resilience of the ecosystem and orchestrate socio-technical transformation.
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A conceptual framework is developed for the transformative governance of complex innovation ecosystems.
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An illustrative example is provided applying the framework to a Finnish policy reform on an emerging innovation mobility ecosystem.
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The implications are explored for the design of individual policies and policy mixes which arise from the recognition of complexity and the holistic policy impacts on the ecosystem and society at large.

Abstract

Transformative innovation policy has recently emerged at the intersection of innovation and socio-technical transition research. It has provided valuable heuristics to guide policy; but it has also led to the recognition of major challenges in the management of uncertainty and complexity. In this paper, we address these challenges by linking transformative innovation policy with research perspectives from (i) complex adaptive systems, (ii) ecosystems, and (iii) adaptive and participatory governance. Specifically, we develop a conceptual framework for transformative governance, which seeks to improve the adaptiveness and resilience of the ecosystem and orchestrates socio-technical transformation based on the balanced presence of diversity, connectivity, polycentricity, redundancy and directionality. We also present an illustrative example by applying the framework to a Finnish policy reform in which the lack of balanced attention to the ecosystem features catalysed major shortcomings in an emerging innovation mobility ecosystem. Finally, we explore the implications for the design of individual policies and policy mixes which arise from the recognition of complexity and the holistic policy impacts on the ecosystem and society at large.

Keywords

Adaptive governance

Complex adaptive system

Ecosystem

Socio-technical transition

Transformative innovation policy

Cited by (0)

Dr. Totti Könnölä is Managing Director of Insight Foresight Institute and Affiliated Researcher of the System Analysis Laboratory at Aalto University School of Science. He is international advisor and board professional on foresight, innovation and sustainability, for instance for Sustainability College Bruges. He has background in European institutions, academia and consultancies.

Dr. Ville Eloranta is University Lecturer at Aalto University (Finland). His key interests are transdisciplinary higher education, business model innovation, and decentralized business ecosystem governance. Before joining academia, Ville worked nearly 20 years as a service designer, programmer, and design agency entrepreneur.

Dr. Taija Turunen is Assistant Professor of Design Management at Aalto School of Business, Department of Management Studies. She has published on business models and service driven platforms, for instance. She serves as a Member of the Board at manufacturing and service companies.

Dr. Ahti Salo is Professor and Director of the Systems Analysis Laboratory at Aalto University School of Science. He has worked extensively on the development of decision analytic methods and their uses in resource allocation, innovation management, risk management, technology foresight, and efficiency analysis. He serves on the Editorial Boards of several refereed journals.