Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions

Regional Innovation Systems: Evolution, Transition, and Future Agenda

October 22, 2024October 22, 2024 | by GEIST

by Chenyue Bai, Han Chu & Robert Hassink

The regional innovation systems (RIS) concept is mature and widely used in economic geography.
However, in the face of grand societal challenges and global economic uncertainty, the traditional RIS concept has been questioned and requires further consideration and discussion, to which we want to
contribute in this paper. Thus, this study explores the evolution of RIS research by analyzing RIS
articles published from 1992 to April 2024 using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model. It identifies three phases of RIS development and summarize five classic and three upcoming topics of
RIS. These topics underscore the dynamic nature of RIS research and its continued relevance in addressing contemporary challenges and opportunities in regional development. Finally, this paper
points out directions for future research.

Download paper: Regional Innovation Systems: Evolution,Transition, and Future Agenda

Cite as: Bai et al. (2024) Regional Innovation Systems: Evolution, Transition, and Future Agenda. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions, 2024(04), GEIST Working Paper series.

Regions in industrial transitions: exploring the uneven geographies of vulnerability, preparedness and responsiveness

August 6, 2024 | by GEIST

by Simon Baumgartinger-Seiringer, Balazs Pager and Michaela Trippl

This article focuses on regions in industrial transitions (RITs) in the context of climate change mitigation and their varying paths towards sustainability, drawing on rich data from 11 regions in 9 countries in the Danube area in Europe. Inspired by recent work on green regional vulnerability, challenge-oriented regional innovation systems and transformative resilience, the article conceptualizes regional industrial transition pathways as the outcome of a complex interplay between distinct geographies of (1) vulnerability to, (2) preparedness for, and (3) responsiveness to transition pressures. Empirically, the article employs a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative analyses of regional structural conditions (focusing on vulnerability and preparedness) with qualitative investigations of agency of regional and non-regional actors (focusing on responsiveness). In doing so, the article unravels diverse pathways that regions adopt to navigate industrial transitions. We contend that these insights hold important implications for the design of tailor-made regional industrial transition strategies.

Download paper: Regions in industrial transitions: exploring the uneven geographies of vulnerability, preparedness and responsiveness

Cite as: Baumgartinger-Seiringer, S., Pager, B. and Trippl, M. (2024) Regions in industrial transitions: exploring the uneven geographies of vulnerability, preparedness and responsiveness. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions, 2024(03), GEIST Working Paper series.

Changing from within: the interplay between imaginary, culture and innovation system in regional transformation

April 19, 2024 | by GEIST

by Huiwen Gong and Bernhard Truffer

This paper investigates how leading industrial regions may maintain their leadership positions when being confronted with deep and radical transformations of their core industries. Focusing on the evolution of the German automotive sector in Baden-Württemberg over the past two decades, we introduce a theoretical framework for a layered regional architecture that weaves together regional imaginaries, innovation culture, and system change processes. We argue that in response to disruptive threats, active engagement with regional imaginaries becomes essential. The paper critiques conventional approaches in regional innovation policy for overlooking the critical role of the region’s intangible facets as vantage points for policy intervention. Hence, it champions a strategy centered on actively shaping regional imaginaries while concurrently fostering the necessary cultural and tangible system transformations.

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Cite as: Gong and Truffer (2024) Changing from within: the interplay between imaginary, culture and innovation system in regional transformation. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions, 2024(02), GEIST Working Paper series.

Regional Transition Fields – How adaptation and delimitation shape regional transition processes

March 4, 2024March 4, 2024 | by GEIST

by Camilla Chlebna and Jannika Mattes

This paper explores the dynamics that result in the entrenched positions that can be empirically observed in regions in the context of energy transition. We conduct our analysis along the concept of strategic action fields. Thereby we develop ‘Regional Transition Fields’ (RTF) that encompass all actors, activities and organisations in a region that share the concern for the transition. This could be any kind of regional transition process, but in this paper, we focus on the regional energy transition. Hence, the actors’ shared issue at stake is the future energy mix of the region. All actors that share this concern are considered to be part of the field. Our approach allows us to consider both those actors that promote an energy transition towards more sustainable energy sources and those that oppose it as part of the same field. They are aware of each other, of each other’s positions in the field and of the resources involved. We argue that, despite the apparent agreement on the issue at stake, conflicts and tensions arise within that field concerning the rules, regulations, and common reference frames against which behaviours are judged. Based on insights about conflicts in transitions, we argue that processes of adaptation and delimitation continually re-shape the structure of the field. In an empirical case study of Northern Hesse in Germany, we identify regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive dimensions of both processes. We thus contribute a perspective on the dynamics of institutionalisation in fields and a more nuanced understanding of the development of entrenched positions in regional energy transitions.

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Cite as: Chlebna and Mattes (2024) Regional Transition Fields – How adaptation and delimitation shape regional transition processes. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions, 2024(01), GEIST Working Paper series.

Competing terms for complementary concepts? Acceptance and legitimacy of low-carbon energy technologies

November 6, 2023 | by GEIST

by Sven Alsheimer, Tamara Schnell, Camilla Chlebna and Sebastian Rohe

The large-scale deployment of low-carbon energy technologies is crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ideally limiting climate change. The success of this transition towards a carbon-neutral society depends on how these technologies are perceived by civil society and whether key societal stakeholders support or oppose their roll-out. Two major debates addressing this issue revolve around the concepts of acceptance and legitimacy. Acceptance literature examines the drivers and levels of support of novel technologies and socio-technical systems. Legitimacy literature captures how these technologies are aligned to their institutional environment. Thus far, there is little cross-fertilisation between the two debates. For this contribution, we conducted a systematic literature review of the two research streams to gain a better understanding of how the social dynamics of low-carbon energy technology deployment are conceptualised. Our review involved the analysis of 240 articles from SCOPUS that empirically studied the acceptance or legitimacy of low-carbon energy technologies. Our findings suggest that the two literature strands are indeed rather disconnected – few articles use both concepts conjointly. They further illustrate that both have distinct research foci and intellectual roots. Acceptance studies tend to focus on individual perspectives towards specific technologies and relate these to the individuals’ backgrounds. In contrast, legitimacy studies tend to focus on the overall alignment of specific technologies or entire innovation systems with the institutional context. Based on our findings, we propose a framework, to allow for a better understanding of the dynamic interplay between macro-level legitimacy evaluations and micro-level acceptance evaluations.

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Cite as: Alsheimer et al. (2023) Competing terms for complementary concepts? Acceptance and legitimacy of low-carbon energy technologies. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions, 2023(01), GEIST Working Paper series.

Rethinking regional economic resilience: Preconditions and processes shaping transformative resilience

September 13, 2022September 13, 2022 | by GEIST

by Michaela Trippl, Sebastian Fastenrath and Arne Isaksen

The unpredictable impacts of slow-burn processes such as climate change and sudden shocks such as the current COVID-19 crisis have led to a renewed interest into regional economic resilience. Much of the literature focuses attention on how regional economies and industries could bounce back, that is, how they could return to their pre-shock conditions. Other scholars have proposed to construe resilience as bouncing forward to capture the mechanisms and processes that underpin positive adaptation and structural change in response to a crisis. In this article, we argue that both conceptualisations fail to consider shocks and crises as a window of opportunity for regional economies to transform to a radically different and more desirable trajectory. This paper brings a new perspective into play, that is, transformative resilience which places shifts towards more sustainable pathways centre stage. This understanding of regional economic resilience acknowledges that a crisis may bring about permanent structural change and it considers to what extent these transformations are to the benefit of society and the environment. This article seeks to identify in a conceptual way what factors and dynamics are vital for enhancing the transformative resilience of regions. To this end, we link recent insights from the debate on regional economic resilience to challenge-oriented regional innovation systems and elaborate on the role of pre-shock conditions and various core processes in building up regional transformative resilience.

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Cite as: Trippl M., Fastenrath S. and Isaksen A. (2022) Rethinking regional economic resilience: Preconditions and processes shaping transformative resilience. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions, 2022(02), GEIST Working Paper series.

Guidebook for applying the Socio-Technical Configuration Analysis method

August 29, 2022 | by GEIST

by Johan Miörner, Bernhard Truffer, Christian Binz, Jonas Heiberg and Xiao-Shan Yap

This working paper is part of the Socio-Technical Configuration Analysis (STCA) guidebook for beginners (see stca.guide). It serves as Chapter 1 of the guidebook, and introduces the conceptual and methodological foundations for the different analytical steps that are explained in subsequent chapters. We elaborate on the theoretical contexts in which socio-technical configurations, their dynamics and geographical variation play a key role and how this epistemological approach relates to well-established conceptual frameworks from innovation and transition studies. In STCA, statements or actions of actors that are reported in document stocks are aggregated into different forms of network or proximity map graphs, which can be interpreted as coherent storylines or strategies reflecting institutionalized socio-technical configurations shared by various actors. Shifts over time of these networks can then be interpreted as depicting transition dynamics, and comparisons across space as local variations of regime or innovation system structures. The paper introduces a coherent terminology to help researchers navigate through the different steps and software programs. It furthermore elaborates on a typology of research problems that can be analyzed through STCA and an overview on the generic steps that a researcher has to conduct when applying the method.

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Cite as: Miörner J., Truffer T., Binz C., Heiberg J. & Yap X.-S. (2022) Guidebook for applying the Socio-Technical Configuration Analysis method. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions 2022(01), GEIST Working Paper series.

Understanding transformation patterns in different socio-technical systems – A scheme of analysis

December 22, 2021 | by GEIST

by Johan Miörner, Christian Binz and Lea Fuenfschilling

Transitions literature shows important gaps when it comes to specifying how, and why, transformation processes play out differently in different sectoral contexts. This paper develops a heuristic for analysing a socio-technical system’s inherent transformative potential and for comparing transition trajectories in different socio-technical systems with each other. The framework draws on insights from transition studies and organizational institutionalism to specify three features of a socio-technical system which shape its inherent transformative potential and most likely transition trajectories: the degree of institutionalization of socio-technical configurations, their coherence, as well as spatial characteristics of the system as a whole. The contribution of the paper is threefold: 1) it develops a systematic understanding of the basic characteristics of a sector’s socio-technical system and how they influence the likelihood, nature, and speed of transition processes; 2) it provides insights to whether and how lessons derived from one sector can be used for understanding transitions in others; 3) it guides the identification of places and spatial scales at which transitions unfold and where leverage points for transformative change lie in different sectors. The framework is illustrated with empirical examples from existing literature on the water- and urban mobility sectors.

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Cite as: Miörner J., Binz C. and Fuenfschilling L. (2021) Understanding transformation patterns in different socio-technical systems – A scheme of analysis. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions, 2021(11), GEIST Working Paper series.

Transitions as a coevolutionary process: the urban emergence of electric vehicle inventions

December 18, 2021December 17, 2021 | by GEIST

by Andrea Ferloni

The transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is a coevolutionary process involving at least three sectors—EV, battery, and smart grid—in replacing combustion cars. This paper contributes to research on the geography of transitions by linking increased relatedness between technologies over time with their co-location, exploring the spatial emergence of transition industries and the role of local economic systems in enabling it. Patent citations are used to construct three main paths from 1920 to 2020 that permit to geolocate key inventions and to elaborate on the role of cities in supporting knowledge exchanges and recombinations. The case study suggests that a coevolutionary perspective can contribute to understanding the geography of transitions in three ways: by showing how new technology configurations imply varying power relations between industrial fields, by elaborating on the capacity of urban regions to adapt to these, and by illustrating the role of actors and networks in this process.

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Cite as: Ferloni A. (2021) Transitions as a coevolutionary process: the urban emergence of electric vehicle inventions. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions, 2021(10), GEIST Working Paper series.

The emergence of a global innovation system – a case study from the water sector

December 9, 2021 | by GEIST

by Jonas Heiberg and Bernhard Truffer

Innovation studies is increasingly acknowledging the multi-scalar nature of the systemic contexts, in which innovations are being developed and deployed. This paper builds on and further develops a recently proposed framework for studying global innovation systems (GIS). It aims at explaining the emergence of a GIS by outlining the specific local resource-related conditions that lead to the creation of structural couplings, i.e. actors, networks and institutions that allow for multi-scalar resource flows. Deploying a qualitative case study, the paper investigates eight demonstration sites for an innovative wastewater treatment technology in North-Western Europe. It shows how resource-related deficits lead actors to draw on resources generated outside of their local context. The paper contributes to the literature on the Geography of Transitions by highlighting the importance of resource complementarities among different local contexts, as well as the crucial role of translocal systemic intermediaries in shaping emergent GIS.

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Cite as: Heiberg J. and Truffer B. (2021) The emergence of a global innovation system – a case study from the water sector. GEIST – Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions, 2021(09), GEIST Working Paper series.