Exploring the dynamics of water innovation: Foundations for water innovation studies

Abstract

The urgent need for innovation to address multifaceted and intertwined water-related challenges is becoming increasingly clear, acknowledged and responded to with cumulating sources and amounts of funding. Nevertheless, the water sector has been claimed to be less innovative than other sectors. This Special Volume on the dynamics of water innovation is based on the realization that, in general, there is a striking absence of academic studies on the dynamics of water innovation. This SV is therefore designed to lay the foundations for the field of water innovation studies, in an effort to integrate the emerging insights. Together, the contributions in this SV capture the current understanding of the dynamics of water innovation and provide insights into how the water innovation process can be fostered. The purpose of this introductory article is threefold, namely to frame the discussion on water innovation dynamics in order to contextualise the contributions of this SV, to provide systematic guidance for studying water innovation dynamics and to suggest the way forward for water innovation studies. It captures the extent of the field of water innovation studies with a review of the literature of the last three decades and frames water innovations. Based on five decades of innovation research and drawing on three areas (management, strategy and policy), we provide an innovation studies taxonomy that consists of four organising dimensions: type of innovation, stage of innovation, level of analysis and measurement. This taxonomy enables researchers to study the dynamics of water innovation from different combinations of conceptual and thematic angles, drawing on the field of innovation studies in a systematic fashion. Finally, we reflect on the way forward for water innovation studies with suggestions for future research.