Abstract
Social innovation is an important dimension of current transformations in energy systems. It can refer to alternative business models, novel policy instruments, financing schemes, participatory governance approaches to energy questions, or new discourses. Its significance for energy systems is often considered in narrow instrumentalist terms, reducing it to a tool serving particular policy objectives. Grounding the concept in social science and humanities insights, this review essay proposes a broadened social innovation understanding. We propose 1) to open up the normative complexity of the concept; 2) to appreciate the multi-actor nature of social innovation; 3) to understand it as an analytical entry point for socio-material intertwinement; and, 4) to understand social innovation as premised on experimentalism-based intervention logics. The proposed social innovation understandings provide a broader imagination and strategizing of structural changes in energy systems.
Highlights
The rise of social innovation in energy systems researchThe search for decarbonised futures unites many policy bodies across governance scales – such as, cities as members of the European Covenant of Mayors, states as signatories to the Paris Agreement, and the European Commission through its vision of an Energy Union [1] and European Green Deal as presented by its President von der Leyen
While we subscribe to the urgency of energy system transformation, we emphasise that social innovation does not provide the missing parts of the energy transition toolbox
Challenging these narrow instrumentalist understandings of social innovation, we propose translations of the concept that are based on the rich tradition of critical SSH thinking in research on social innovation more general
Summary
The search for decarbonised futures unites many policy bodies across governance scales – such as, cities as members of the European Covenant of Mayors, states as signatories to the Paris Agreement, and the European Commission through its vision of an Energy Union [1] and European Green Deal as presented by its President von der Leyen. Criticisms on the current interpretation converge on the issue that social innovation is approached instrumentally [19], narrowly conceived [20], and framed as an extension of technological innovation to shape society in specific pre-defined directions [21,22,23,24]. Our key consideration is that the prevailing narrow and instrumentalist social innovation adoptions are unsatisfactory even in instrumental terms Focusing on their limited view on the societal significance of social innovation, this article explores the following question: What would a broadened understanding of social innovation in energy systems look like? Our proposal for a more comprehensive understanding pertains to four dimensions: 1) the normative complexity of the concept, 2) its multi-actor nature, 3) socio-material intertwinement and 4) experimentalism-based intervention logics This critical review draws on three main sources. Bearing in mind that this article is targeted at scholars, practitioners and policy workers alike, we conclude by a synthesis of our argument that provides foothold in the form of alternative system understandings (Section 7)
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