Seminar 1: Inside Innovation Systems for Sustainability Transitions

The goal of this seminar is to provide you with a deeper understanding of why innovation systems are useful analytical tools. While you will have to read Hekkert et al. (2007) for the assignment in seminar 2, for this seminar the only reading are the game rules below. Please make sure that you read through and understand the rules. Before starting the seminar, we will clarify any questions you have.

Learning Objectives

Functions of Innovation Systems

• Understand and describe how the motors of change (Hekkert et al. 2007) relate to the seven innovation system functions.

Systems Thinking: Surprises of Innovation Systems

• Realize bounded rationality of actors in specific roles.
• The role that delays play in feedback loops.

Sustainability

• The need for sustainability to be constantly negotiated among stakeholders

• How interaction in innovation systems affects sustainability objectives.

Hekkert, M. P., R. A. A. Suurs, S. O. Negro, S. Kuhlmann, and R. E. H. M. Smits. 2007. “Functions of Innovation Systems: A New Approach for Analysing Technological Change.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change 74 (4): 413–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2006.03.002.