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PublicationHandbook of Innovation and Regulation: introductory chapter( 2023)
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PublicationThe overall impact of economic, social and institutional regulation on innovation: an update( 2023)The regulatory framework has been acknowledged as being increasingly important in promoting innovation. Initially, the objective was to reduce the regulatory burden for innovators. However, with the publication of the Porter Hypothesis, the incentive function of regulations has been pointed out to be relevant for regulation, particularly in environmental regulation. This chapter provides an update of Blind (2016) on the current empirical insights into the impact of more than ten areas of regulation. Under economic regulation, competition, mergers and acquisitions, market entry, price, and, eventually, the regulation of network sectors are addressed. Among social regulations, the protection of the environment, workers' health and safety, and product and consumer safety are covered. Finally, liability law, labor market and financial market regulation, and intellectual property rights are considered institutional regulations. Complementary to regulation, a separate section addresses the role of standards for innovation. The chapter ends with a summary and an outlook toward future research.
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PublicationThe Role of Innovation in a Postgrowth SocietyFrom an economic perspective, innovation and growth constitute a very close relationship with the former being a prerequisite for, and at the same time relying on, the latter. However, continued growth requires increasing amounts of natural resources and by doing so leads to the transgression of the boundaries for a safe operation of the system earth. In order to avoid this drawback, a halt (steady state) or even reversal of growth (de- or postgrowth) is proposed. What does this mean for innovation? This chapter shows that innovation is a far more diverse and complex phenomenon as the common notion of growth-related techno-economic innovation suggests. Not only are there different types of innovation, but also the relationship between these diverse innovation types, their intended impacts, nonintended side effects, and contributions to universally accepted societal goals such as well-being or sustainability is heterogeneous and far from linear. Although economic growth might remain a more or less relevant intermediate factor in some contexts, it generally seems by no means indispensable, neither as a prerequisite for innovation nor as a means to reach well-being nor as an end in itself.
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PublicationHow firms absorb external knowledge - modelling and managing the absorptive capacity process( 2021)This paper contributes to the literature and management practice by opening the ""black box"" of firms' absorptive capacity (AC) processes. Following a process research approach and based on in-depth comparative case studies of four German manufacturing companies, we develop and empirically validate a procss model of the firm-internal AC process. Our model integrates the different single elements (e.g., individuals, teams, departments) as well as the different linear and nonlinear causal interactions that constitute the firm's ability to identify, adopt, implement and exploit external information and knowledge. Furthermore, the paper elaborates on various organizational leverages to increase the effectiveness of the identified process flows. The findings provide explanatory insight into the organisational prerequisites of AC. Thus, the paper simultaneously contributes to enhance the academic and management's understanding of firms' AC by identifying its constitutional key elements, their different kinds of processual interrelation as well as organisational prerequisites and points of leverage to modify, measure, and improve the AC of a company.
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PublicationStandardisierung als innovationspolitisches Instrument( 2020)Der Beitrag zeigt nach einem einleitenden Kapitel mit den wichtigsten Definitionen zunächst die verschiedenen innovationsfördernden Effekte von Standards auf. Anschließend werden die wichtigsten Markt- und Systemversagensgründe bezüglich Innovation vorgestellt und die Potenziale der Standardisierung zu deren Behebung herausgearbeitet. Abschließend werden Möglichkeiten aufgezeigt, das innovationsfördernde Potenzial der Standardisierung und von Standards noch weiter zu steigern.
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PublicationDesigning complex policy mixes: Elements, processes and characteristics( 2018)In the last decade, researchers and policy makers alike have increasingly moved away from the consideration of single policy tools and towards a greater consideration of their combination and resulting interactions. Much of this policy design work has used - albeit with varying definitions and based on different bodies of literature - the term policy mix to capture such interacting instruments, may that be in environmental policy, innovation policy, biodiversity policy, or other policy fields. However, these 'simple' conceptualizations of policy mixes have been recently extended to a consideration of more 'complex' policy mixes, particularly in the context of sustainability transitions, such as the transition to low-carbon energy systems. This chapter will provide an overview of this new orientation in policy mix research, including an introduction to the major building blocks - the elements, processes and characteristics - as well as dimensions of 'complex' policy mixes. It concludes by outlining how such an extended policy mix concept can serve as integrated framework for policy mix evaluation and design.
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PublicationExploring the german living lab research infrastructure: Opportunities for sustainable products and services( 2017)
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PublicationReviewing the evidence on the innovation impact of the EU Emission Trading System( 2016)The Paris Climate Agreement calls for decarbonization of the economy in the second half of this century. This requires a radical redirection and acceleration of technological change towards low- and particularly zero-carbon solutions. Global carbon pricing is seen as a key enabler for such decarbonization, with the European Union's Emission Trading System (EU ETS) serving as an important pillar. In this paper, I therefore re-view the evidence on the innovation impact of the EU ETS. The review shows a very limited effect of the scheme on technological innovation, but there are clear signs of it having stimulated organizational innovation, with the impact being more pronounced for the electricity sector than for industry. The initially high expectations of the EU ETS regarding technological innovation largely dissipated once the scheme's lack of stringency became apparent and prices collapsed accordingly. Also, for many of the rather incremental innovations that have taken place, the EU ETS was shown to be only one contributing factor among others, with the broader policy mix and long-term targets playing a particularly pivotal role in stimulating innovation. In contrast, there is clear evidence that the EU ETS has been a key driver of various organizational innovations, including making climate change a top management issue. However, so far, these organizational innovations have only had limited effects on shifting corporate strategies towards low-carbon solutions because of low carbon prices, the relatively high share of free allocations in industry, and more pressing business concerns. Despite this, the scheme's positive impact on organizational innovations should not be underestimated, as these constitute a necessary precondition for future technological innovations. The findings suggest that the Commission's proposal for the fourth trading period of the EU ETS points in the right direction, but further efforts will be needed to significantly in-crease the scarcity of EU allowances and the share of auctioning in order to fully unleash the scheme's transformative power. If the identified shortcomings are not ad-dressed, the EU ETS cannot play its foreseen role in guiding the decarbonization of the European economy, for which innovations in low-carbon solutions are a fundamental requirement.
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