A constructivist approach to the spatial organization of transformative innovation policy

Systems such as energy, food, and mobility are currently organized in unsustainable modes of production and consumption, with negative consequences on social justice and planetary health. Disruptive and systemic innovations are required, beyond solely improving technologies or financial instruments, to address wicked and complex societal and environmental challenges. Transformative innovation policy (TIP) is a new generation of innovation policy that promises to enable just transitions in these socio-technical systems. The promise is to be able to tackle wicked problems and polycrisis of inequities, social injustices, environmental degradations, and accelerated impacts of climate change through new policymaking approaches that support, nurture, and scale transformative socio-technical innovations. We review emerging TIP literature to discuss key elements in TIP design and implementation, such as experiment, monitoring, and learning through formative evaluation; codesigning a systemic theory of change; enhancing policy capabilities; building knowledge infrastructure; and empowering communities of practice. Two cases in Spain and Indonesia illustrate key aspects of the TIP method. Our major contribution lies in articulating what an alternative innovation policy could look like to mitigate transformational failures observed in current system change efforts and explore how directionalities such as being democratic, elevating decolonial sensibilities, enhancing well-being, and navigating futures can make innovation policies more transformative. Policymakers must adopt new ways of thinking and acting on persistent challenges, beyond the traditional way of setting social and climate targets at the beginning of policy process and a summative policy evaluation at the very end. TIPs of the future should incorporate multiple directionalities negotiated among diverse actors and knowledge systems and by learning from failure in context-sensitive ways.

Government policies increasingly focus on transformative innovation policy (TIP), as programmes are being reoriented towards addressing societal challenges and contributing to sustainability transitions. Evaluation practices need modification to keep up with this change. While a small number of frameworks for TIP evaluation have been proposed, building upon different sustainability transition approaches, little is known regarding the extent to which TIP thinking has been integrated into policy evaluation practice. Hence, there is a need, first, to understand the implications of TIP for evaluation, based on the TIP literature and, second, to investigate the extent to which TIP thinking is used in innovation policy evaluation practice, and the main challenges policymakers face in making evaluation more transformation oriented. To do this, we adapt Edler et al.’s (2012, The Practice of Evaluation in Innovation Policy in Europe’, Research Evaluation, 21: 167–82) innovation policy evaluation dimensions to create a framework within which to develop an archetypal TIP programme evaluation, based on the literature. We then investigate the take-up of TIP principles in evaluation in the specific case of Sweden. We use a cross-case comparison of three Swedish innovation programmes, namely the Vinnväxt programme for sustainable regional growth, Challenge Driven Innovation, and the Strategic Innovation Programmes, to analyse the extent to which innovation policy evaluation practice aligns with this archetypal framework. Finally, we identify three challenges policymakers face when trying to reorient evaluations towards being more aligned with this archetypal framework.

Towards Transformative Innovation Policy in Territorial Governance: Mapping the Relevance of RRI Elements

Interplay of Policy Experimentation and Institutional Change in Transformative Policy Mixes: The Case of Mobility as a Service in Finland

There is increasing recognition that public sectors in Western countries alone cannot tackle complex societal challenges. However, detailed research on the role of public agents in implementing collaborative approaches remains limited. This article examines how policy entrepreneurship strategies contribute to collaborative public sector innovation (CPSI) by shaping policy design processes in transformative innovation policy. Focusing on the Shared-Agendas initiative in Catalonia, the study explores how public sector actors operate across the policy process to advance place-based approaches to sustainability transitions. By framing CPSI as a policy design challenge, the findings show that policy entrepreneurs influence these processes by reframing problems by taking a systemic perspective, co-constructing shared visions, enabling experimental implementation, and institutionalizing learning practices. The analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of how agency drives collaborative and adaptive policymaking within complex governance settings. Although based on an in-depth examination of an extreme case, the strategies identified may be transferable to other contexts where public administrations seek to foster CPSI through cross-sectoral, place-based innovation efforts.

The collection of articles in this special issue provides a broad overview on various facets of global health, and it attempts to establish the link between globalisation and its manifestation and impact on the regional and local levels. The idea for this collection was first conceived during the 13th World Congress on Public Health, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 23–27 April 2012, and evolved out of deliberations regarding the lack of comprehensive, dedicated and affordable textbooks for teaching global health. In the aftermath of the World Congress, a group was established to develop a first collection of articles for such textbooks. This special issue is the result of a collaboration that brought together representatives from the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), the African Federation of Public Health Associations (AFPHA) and the Department of International Health at Maastricht University. Because global health is an emerging multisectoral field linking (among others) health, trade, governance and foreign policies, development and humanitarian aid, the topics that can be covered in one special issue are necessarily limited. This collection of articles focuses therefore on aspects of governance, international relations and global health policies and on the role of health systems and health systems design including health system reform, primary care and the globalized health workforce. Further facets that are discussed include global health ethics and education. Other important aspects such as global health and global environmental change or global health and urbanisation have not been covered in this special issue but all articles intend to provide an up-to-date overview of the rapidly growing global health literature. (Published: 13 February 2014) Citation: Glob Health Action 2014, 7 : 23696 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v7.23696 This paper is part of the Special Issue Facets of Global Health: Globalisation, Equity, Impact, and Action. More papers from this issue can be found here .

Purpose This article describes the development and validation of a survey designed to measure the vision of European agricultural advisors towards innovation. Design/Methodology/Approach The items of the instrument were developed based on the conceptual framework provided by the position paper for the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium. The resulting instrument was completed by 656 advisors recruited through the network of the European Horizon 2020 i2connect project. The data was divided into two random subsets. The structure of the instrument was explored using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using one subset and convergent validity was tested by applying confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to the second subset. Findings The EFA resulted in a three-factor solution. In accordance with the conceptual framework, these factors were labelled (a) linear innovation, (b) innovation systems and (c) transformative change. The CFA demonstrated an adequate fit and a satisfactory level of internal consistency. Practical implications The instrument can assist in eliciting advisors’ views on innovation, which could be used in advisors’ selection and recruitment. Theoretical implications Building on a strong conceptual basis, the paper presents a theoretically robust instrument for assessing advisors’ views on different innovation models. Such assessments could in turn lead to further expand and elaborate concepts on this aspect. Originality/Value The survey is the first instrument to include the emerging policy paradigm of transformative change and as such allows measuring the degree to which European advisors are willing to support transformative innovation policy.

It is urgent that an understanding of “directionality” within innovation policies is pursued. A new generation of transformative and mission-oriented innovation policies has gained popularity, promising to realign societies’ innovative activities with societal challenges. This debate comprises different theoretical arguments about achieving directionality but lacks empirical cases that examine the unfolding of policies. This chapter addresses the case of mobility as a service in Finland and explores how a clear and globally relevant direction developed from related policies, showing six elements that were pertinent for the emergence of directionality. The results show a gradual, multi-actor process, combining the emergent process envisaged by transformative innovation policy (TIP) with attempts to streamline actors commonly associated with mission-oriented innovation policies (MOIP). This research highlights that the distinction between these two approaches may be more fluid than previously thought. Studying the processes through which directionality emerges is a fruitful analytic strategy for examining the concrete unfolding of such policies.

The Triple Helix model has long provided a powerful lens for analysing university–industry–government interactions, yet its explanatory power is weakened when applied to sustainability transitions. Classical assumptions of goal congruence, linear knowledge transfer, and stable institutional complementarities fail to capture the plural values, deep uncertainties and adaptive governance demands of the sustainability agenda. This paper reframes the Triple Helix through a mechanism‐based approach, specifying four recurrent processes—normative alignment, cross‐sectoral learning, institutional embedding and collective reflexivity—that explain how collaborations generate sustainability‐oriented outcomes. Drawing on institutional logics, organisational learning and reflexive governance, the framework integrates insights from mission‐oriented and transformative innovation policy while avoiding the proliferation of additional ‘helices’. Using illustrative cases from the EU's Climate‐Neutral Cities Mission, China's wastewater recycling pilots, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Circular Electronics Initiative, the paper demonstrates how mechanisms manifest differently across global innovation systems shaped by state capacity, market openness and civic accountability. The contribution is threefold: advancing a testable meso‐level architecture for Triple Helix research, generating propositions for cross‐national comparison, and providing operational tools for empirical analysis and policy design. Overall, this mechanism‐based reframing advances Triple Helix theory by offering a portable, testable process grammar and by equipping researchers and policymakers with practical instruments—indicators, measurement strategies and design levers (e.g., standards, public procurement, reflexive evaluation)—to steer sustainability‐oriented collaboration.

The article is a continuation of theoretical deliberations on self-creation presented in the earlier work (Jančina, Kubicka, 2014). It contains a detailed characteristics of this pheno­menon, assuming that the object of self-creation activities is the Self, in the sense of its cognitive representation named the Self, and more precisely - the identity of a person. I suggest introducing the concept of a complex self-creation competence, which consists of such detailed competencies as autobiographical knowledge (thinking), autonomy, creativity, transgression, defining and committing oneself to fulfilling long-term goals, and self-reflection. In addition, I search for an adequate method for researching these detailed competencies. The article also contains argumentation in favour of the analysis of the content of self-narratives as the most accurate me­thod of self-creation research as defined here. Therefore, McAdams’s life story model is presented, and a strong argument in favour of such a choice of the research method is given in the form of the deliberations of Zbigniew Pietrasiński, the author of the self-creation concept itself, who conducted research by analysing the biographies of well-known historical figures.

Evolution of β-lactam biosynthesis genes and recruitment of trans-acting factors

BackgroundThe potential legalisation of physician assisted suicide (PAS) in the UK has become a hotly debated issue in recent years. Objections from the palliative care community have hitherto been largely...

The expansion of European foreign and security policy co-operation since the 1970s imposes unique requirements on European Union (EU) member states, and the co- ordination of these various obligations presents a major challenge to the EU's pursuit of a common foreign and security policy (CFSP). However, the past decade has also seen significant progress toward the multi-level governance of EU foreign policy, particularly when compared to the limited policy co-ordination of the 1970s and 1980s. This article examines the relationship between institutional development and the multi-level governance of EU foreign policy, as represented by the CFSP. In particular, it explores: (1) the extent to which the CFSP policy space can be described in terms of multi-level governance; (2) the processes by which governance mechanisms influence the domestic foreign policy cultures of EU member states; and (3) how the interaction of domestic politics and governance mechanisms produces specific policy outcomes.

Trade has become an increasingly core part and defining feature of our globalising world economy, and so by default has become integrally linked to climate change and action. Trade has not only rapidly expanded over recent decades but also driven contemporary economic development and growth, especially in countries where carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have too risen sharply. Increasing attention has consequently been afforded to the nexus between trade and climate change. Trade is now a key front for climate action. For some time, neoliberal environmentalism has been viewed as the dominant discourse on climate policy and other aspects of environmental governance. However, it has been very rarely applied to, or its relevance tested against the trade-climate nexus specifically. The paper presents a study on this relationship based on new original empirical research and the investigation of the following hypotheses or research questions. To what extent has neoliberal environmentalism thus far dominated mainstream international and global discourses on trade-linked efforts on climate action? What have been the principal features of neoliberal environmentalism within these discourses? Do the results of the study’s empirical research suggest the need to include other relevant analytical approaches to develop a better comprehension of how trade-climate nexus issues are being addressed? In addressing the above the paper develops an analytical framework comprises modelled normative elements of neoliberal environmentalism as well as relevant concepts of state-market relations. This frames the discursive evaluation of the study’s research that is based on a multi-stage, in-depth text analysis of 37 key publications produced by global economic institutions (GEIs) on the trade-climate nexus from 2007 to 2022. Market-based instruments (MBIs) were found to be by far the strongest normative element in this text corpus. This subsequently provided scope for exploring whether different forms of ‘climate interventionism’ were evident in the trade-climate nexus, and thus more nuanced and alternative understandings of the subject. The paper’s main contribution to the literature on this subject is to open up ideas and debate concerning how important aspects of neoliberal environmentalism overlap with, and can be better understood in the context of state-market relations. Evidence from this study’s research suggests that in the trade-climate nexus discourse there exists considerable space for states and international institutions to adopt, promote and innovate different forms of climate interventionism through various trade policy and governance actions. It is further argued that MBI-based trade related policies can only take us so far in climate action efforts. More ardent forms of state and other institutional interventions, from the local to the global-international levels, are required to ultimately achieve increasingly urgent climate goals.

Thailand has established a target of carbon neutrality by 2050. Reaching this goal will require coordination and collaboration between stakeholders spanning sectors and scales, including energy system decision makers, land managers, and city planners. Robust decarbonization scenarios incorporating current plans and targets, additional measures needed, and trade-offs between strategies can help stakeholders make informed decisions in the face of uncertainty. Through iterative engagement with decision makers at the city and national levels, we develop and analyze carbon neutral scenarios for Thailand that incorporate Bangkok’s role using a global integrated assessment model. We find that Thailand can reach carbon neutrality through power sector decarbonization, energy efficiency improvements, widespread electrification, and advanced technologies including carbon capture and storage and hydrogen. Negative emissions technologies will also be needed to offset Thailand and Bangkok’s hardest-to-abate CO2 emissions. Bangkok, as a major population and economic center, contributes significantly to Thailand’s energy demand and emissions and can therefore play an important role in climate change mitigation. Accordingly, our results underscore the importance of subnational climate action in meeting Thailand’s carbon neutral goal. Our analysis also indicates that without sustained land-based carbon sequestration, much more mitigation effort will be needed in Thailand’s energy sector, including at the subnational scale, to reach carbon neutrality. These insights can help stakeholders identify priorities, consider tradeoffs, and make decisions that will impact Bangkok and Thailand’s long-term climate change mitigation potential. This analysis demonstrates how stakeholder engagement in integrated assessment modeling can facilitate and inform multilevel climate governance.