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Kemp R, van Lente H. Innovation for sustainability: how actors are myopically caught in processes of co-evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20220270. [PMID: 37952629 PMCID: PMC10645083 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023] Open
Abstract
In this paper, we argue that the development, uptake and adoption of innovations resembles an evolutionary process of variation, selection and retention (within broader processes of co-evolution) in which actors are myopically caught. We do so in four steps. First, we review in what ways socio-technical evolution resembles biological evolution. Second, we argue that in socio-technical evolution so-called 'configurations that work' can be viewed as evolutionary units, which are subject to selection pressures, variation and human-made couplings between variation and selection. This explains why innovation is often cumulative, based on variation and recombination. Third, we discuss how producers, consumers, governments and scientists are myopically caught in processes of co-evolution. While humans are capable of imagining the need for system change and details of desired systems, they are less capable of accepting the concomitant higher costs and inconveniences and adopt new interpretive schemes. Fourth, in a pluralist world, steering is done by all kind of actors, including those who actively resist transformative change. Because of this, steering by government and coalitions of change can achieve little more than a modulation of ongoing dynamics, despite disturbing evidence of a run-away climate, mass extinction, pervasive ecological degradation and steady depletion of resources. A new consciousness of the Anthropocene can evoke fundamental changes in science and the economy if-and only if-they are sufficiently carried by institutional changes and new practices. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'.
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Affiliation(s)
- René Kemp
- UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Limburg 6211 AX, The Netherlands
- MSI, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Limburg 6211 AX, The Netherlands
| | - Harro van Lente
- FASOS, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Limburg 6211 AX, The Netherlands
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van Lente H. Innovation, Demand, and Responsibility: Some Fundamental Questions About Health Systems Comment on "What Health System Challenges Should Responsible Innovation in Health Address? Insights From an International Scoping Review". Int J Health Policy Manag 2019; 8:567-569. [PMID: 31657181 PMCID: PMC6815981 DOI: 10.15171/ijhpm.2019.47] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 06/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
In this commentary on the exercise of Lehoux et al (this volume) I argue that in discussions on the current challenges of health systems, a better diagnosis of the health system is required. The cause of responsible innovation in health (RIH) requires a better understanding of the dynamics of health systems, in particular how innovation, demand, and responsibility are manifested. Innovation brings its own dynamic to the health system; demands are linked to historical and social developments; responsibility brings contestations about what counts as good healthcare. Any attempt of RIH should include such reflections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harro van Lente
- Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
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van Wezel AP, van Lente H, van de Sandt JJ, Bouwmeester H, Vandeberg RL, Sips AJ. Risk analysis and technology assessment in support of technology development: Putting responsible innovation in practice in a case study for nanotechnology. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018; 14:9-16. [PMID: 28901636 DOI: 10.1002/ieam.1989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2016] [Revised: 06/09/2017] [Accepted: 09/07/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Governments invest in "key enabling technologies," such as nanotechnology, to solve societal challenges and boost the economy. At the same time, governmental agencies demand risk reduction to prohibit any often unknown adverse effects, and industrial parties demand smart approaches to reduce uncertainties. Responsible research and innovation (RRI) is therefore a central theme in policy making. Risk analysis and technology assessment, together referred to as "RATA," can provide a basis to assess human, environmental, and societal risks of new technological developments during the various stages of technological development. This assessment can help both governmental authorities and innovative industry to move forward in a sustainable manner. Here we describe the developed procedures and products and our experiences to bring RATA in practice within a large Dutch nanotechnology consortium. This is an example of how to put responsible innovation in practice as an integrated part of a research program, how to increase awareness of RATA, and how to help technology developers perform and use RATA. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:9-16. © 2017 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).
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Affiliation(s)
- Annemarie P van Wezel
- KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Nieuwegein, the Netherlands
- Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Harro van Lente
- Copernicus Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
- Department Technology and Society Studies, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | | | - Hans Bouwmeester
- RIKILT, Wageningen UR, Wageningen, the Netherlands
- Division of Toxicology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands
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Engel N, van Lente H. Organisational innovation and control practices: the case of public-private mix in tuberculosis control in India. Sociol Health Illn 2014; 36:917-931. [PMID: 24372316 DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.12125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Partnerships between public and private healthcare providers are often seen as an important way to improve health care in resource-constrained settings. Despite the reconfirmed policy support for including private providers into public tuberculosis control in India, the public-private mix (PPM) activities continue to face apprehension at local implementation sites. This article investigates the causes for those difficulties by examining PPM initiatives as cases of organisational innovation. It examines findings from semi-structured interviews, observations and document analyses in India around three different PPM models and the attempts of innovating and scaling up. The results reveal that in PPM initiatives underlying problem definitions and different control practices, including supervision, standardisation and culture, continue to clash and ultimately hinder the scaling up of PPM. Successful PPM initiatives require organisational control practices which are rooted in different professions to be bridged. This entails difficult balancing acts between innovation and control. The innovators handle those differently, based on their own ideas of the problem that PPM should address and their own control practices. We offer new perspectives on why collaboration is so difficult and show a possible way to mitigate the established apprehensions between professions in order to make organisational innovations, such as PPM, sustainable and scalable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nora Engel
- Department of Health, Ethics and Society/School for Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
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Abstract
The agri-food sector is under pressure to move towards sustainability and broad socio-technical changes are needed. In such encompassing innovation processes that concern the whole agri-food chain, actors with different institutional backgrounds are confronted with each others interests, ideas and perspectives. Framing, then, may both support and hinder the alignment of actors and interests. In this paper we investigate how framing occurs in multi-actor innovation projects and how it facilitates or hinders the continuity of these projects. We first review the broad literature on framing, which leads to a typology of three levels of framing: face-to-face interaction (between individuals), global discourse (within society) and localised collective (in projects). In addition, we add a third category to the traditional distinction between ‘cognitive’ and ‘interactional’ framing. We argue that in socio-technical innovations also ‘material’ framing occurs. In an empirical case study, based on in-depth interviews and document analysis of the Roundel project (2004-2010), a Dutch innovation project aimed at sustainable egg production and marketing, we trace and analyse these different forms of framing. The project survived several critical episodes, due to changes in framing. Our study yields general lessons about framing in complex innovation projects, both conceptual and practical.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joyce Zwartkruis
- Innovation Studies, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Ellen Moors
- Innovation Studies, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Jacco Farla
- Innovation Studies, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Harro van Lente
- Innovation Studies, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Abstract
We note the emergence of a new type of intermediary organization, which functions at system or network level, in contrast to traditional intermediary organizations that operate mainly bilaterally. These "systemic intermediaries" are important in long-term and complex changes, such as "transitions" to sustainable development, which require the coordinated effort of industry, policy makers, research institutes and others. We use the Systems of Innovation approach to characterize the roles of traditional and systemic intermediary organizations. A review of recent changes in innovation systems points to the need of more systemic efforts, such as the articulation of needs and options, the alignment of relevant actors and the support of learning processes. In a phase model of transitions additional roles of systemic intermediaries are identified. A case study of the Californian Fuel Cell Partnership shows how the efforts of systemic intermediaries in encompassing systemic innovations are useful and necessary, but not sufficient.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harro van Lente
- Department of Innovation Studies, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80068, NL-3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Marko Hekkert
- Department of Innovation Studies, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80068, NL-3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Ruud Smits
- Department of Innovation Studies, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80068, NL-3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Bas van Waveren
- Department of Innovation Studies, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80068, NL-3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Boenink M, Cuijpers Y, van der Laan AL, van Lente H, Moors E. Assessing the sociocultural impacts of emerging molecular technologies for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Int J Alzheimers Dis 2011; 2011:184298. [PMID: 21941672 PMCID: PMC3177463 DOI: 10.4061/2011/184298] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2011] [Accepted: 07/14/2011] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Novel technologies for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) will impact the way
society views and deals with AD and ageing. However, such “sociocultural” impacts are
hardly acknowledged in standard approaches of technology assessment. In this paper, we
outline three steps to assess such broader impacts. First, conceptual analysis of the ideas
underlying technological developments shows how these technologies redraw the boundary
between Alzheimer's disease and normal ageing and between biological and social
approaches of ageing. Second, imaginative scenarios are designed depicting different
possible futures of AD diagnosis and societal ways to deal with ageing and the aged. Third,
such scenarios enable deliberation on the sociocultural impact of AD diagnostic
technologies among a broad set of stakeholders. An early, broad, and democratic assessment
of innovations in diagnostics of AD is a valuable addition to established forms of technology
assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marianne Boenink
- Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
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Abstract
In many Western science systems, funding structures increasingly stimulate academic research to contribute to practical applications, but at the same time the rise of bibliometric performance assessments have strengthened the pressure on academics to conduct excellent basic research that can be published in scholarly literature. We analyze the interplay between these two developments in a set of three case studies of fields of chemistry in the Netherlands. First, we describe how the conditions under which academic chemists work have changed since 1975. Second, we investigate whether practical applications have become a source of credibility for individual researchers. Indeed, this turns out to be the case in catalysis, where connecting with industrial applications helps in many steps of the credibility cycle. Practical applications yield much less credibility in environmental chemistry, where application-oriented research agendas help to acquire funding, but not to publish prestigious papers or to earn peer recognition. In biochemistry practical applications hardly help in gaining credibility, as this field is still strongly oriented at fundamental questions. The differences between the fields can be explained by the presence or absence of powerful upstream end-users, who can afford to invest in academic research with promising long term benefits.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Harro van Lente
- Copernicus Instituut for Sustainable Development and Innovation, Utrecht University, PO Box 80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands
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