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Fraunhofer-Institut für System- und Innovationsforschung ISI
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PublicationSocial innovation, transformation, and public policy: towards a conceptualization and critical appraisal( 2024)This article conceptualizes the role of social innovation (SI) in transformational innovation policy, identifies policy options, and points out potential risks of mobilizing SI for transformations. We illustrate our conceptual claims based on selected policy examples and propose a set of distinctions about the basic role of policy for SI in the context of transformation. We distinguish the importance of SI for the two policy approaches: transformative innovation policy and mission-oriented innovation policy. It follows that politics must differentiate between the various types of SI and their different significance for missions and transformations. To decide whether and how policy intervenes, ex ante and ex post analyses of the transformational effects of SI and the policies that act on them must be developed and applied. It is crucial to accompany and promote the diversity of SIs politically in such a way that they can constructively unfold their transformation potential.
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PublicationDemand, public procurement and transformationIn this article we want to explore the role of the state to influence and support the demand for innovation in the context of transformation with a triple focus. First, we discuss the importance of demand for innovation and transformation. Second, we elaborate the conceptual underpinning of state intervention on the demand side. This In doing so, we link the demand side interventions with both the transformation debate and the innovation based competitiveness of systems debate. We then zoom into the main focus of this discussion paper, public demand and public procurement practice for innovation and transformation as this is - or can be - a powerful lever to spur both transformation and innovation which is largely underexplored and underused. Here we differentiate different forms of public procurement as well as different functions it can play in different transformation contexts. Rather than elaborating individual instruments and measures to support procurement, which is done in many ways elsewhere, we conclude with a number of high level recommendation for policy and analysis in order to further a debate the value of which has been recognised, but yet which has not materialised in any serious policy strategies for procurement.
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PublicationTechnology sovereignty as an emerging frame for innovation policy. Defining rationales, ends and means( 2023)In recent years, global technology-based competition has not only intensified, but become increasingly linked to a more comprehensive type of competition between different political and value systems. The globalist assumptions of the post-Cold War era that reliable mutually beneficial agreements could be reached with all nations, regardless of ideology, have been shattered. A previously less visible, mostly political, risk dimension has been brought to the fore by recent geopolitical and geo-economic developments. Against this background, the notion of technology sovereignty has gained prominence in national and international debates, cutting across and adding to established rationales of innovation policy. In this paper, we propose and justify a concise yet nuanced concept of technology sovereignty to contribute to and clarify this debate. In particular, we argue that technology sovereignty should be conceived as state-level agency within the international system, i.e. as sovereignty of governmental action, rather than (territorial) sovereignty over something. Against this background, we define technology sovereignty not as an end in itself, but as a means to achieving the central objectives of innovation policy - sustaining national competitiveness and building capacities for transformative policies. By doing so, we position ourselves between a naive globalist position which largely neglects the risks of collaboration and the promotion of near autarky which disregards the inevitable costs of creating national redundancies and reducing cooperative interdependencies. We finish by providing a set of policy suggestions to support technology sovereignty in line with our conceptual approach.
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PublicationNext generation innovation policy( 2023)This chapter outlines what one could call a new generation of innovation policy. In a nutshell, innovation policy has traditionally focused on supporting activities intended to make economies more competitive and boost welfare. The new generation of innovation policy, however, is intended to support the transformation of systems in order to cope with clearly defined societal challenges. This is an ambitious development, as it necessitates a different understanding of the state's role in innovation policy vis-à-vis society and the economy, a modernized portfolio of interventions, and new governance approaches, structures and capabilities. This chapter outlines this new aspiration of innovation policy and the governance changes it requires.
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PublicationSystemische Resilienz - Einsichten aus der InnovationsforschungIm Zuge der COVID 19-Pandemie ist der Begriff der Resilienz zu einem wichtigen Leitbild geworden. Stimmen aus Politik, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft fordern verstärkt Strategien, um die systemische Widerstandsfähigkeit und Anpassungsfähigkeit in diesen Bereichen zu erhöhen. Ein neuer Policy Brief des Fraunhofer ISI zeigt, dass die Innovationsforschung hier viele praxisnahe und erprobte Ansatzpunkte bietet, die bei der Ausarbeitung von Resilienz-Strategien hilfreich sein können.