Niche Innovations Research Articles

A socio-technical perspective on the scope for ports to enable energy transition

The paper applies the multi-level perspective (MLP) in a descriptive study of three Norwegian ports, to shed new light on the sociotechnical processes that structure their efforts to develop into zero emission energy hubs. While exogenous pressures cause tensions over port governance, the studied ports utilize their full spectre of functions; as landlords, operators, authorities and community managers, to enable transition. The respective approaches vary, related to their local context, market situation and social networks, including port's relations with their owners. Individual orientations and organizational capacity further influence their engagement with radical innovation niches (e.g. OPS, hydrogen, LNG). The study highlights the active role of ports in sustainability transition. It shows how the interaction between geographical factors and institutional work influences the scope for new solutions around the individual port, and how this makes for different feedback loops and contributions to sustainability transition in wider transport and energy systems.

A practice approach to understanding the multilevel dynamics of sanitation innovation

Although radical innovations are expected to play an increasing role in sustainable development by changing existing (unsustainable) systems, many of them do not succeed. This paper describes one such failure of innovation in the sanitation sector and offers insight into how innovators could redirect the innovation process to bring about real change. Drawing on practice theory in combination with the multilevel perspective on sustainability transitions, we identify elements of practices associated with a sanitation innovation and analyse how these interact with established practices in the sanitation sector. We establish the factors that facilitated and impeded this innovation's ability to create change. Based primarily on interviews conducted during a longitudinal case study undertaken between 2012 and 2018, our results suggest that: 1) the division of practice into elements of material, activity, competence and meaning facilitates a detailed analysis of how the innovation interacts with existing practices; 2) innovators may need to act as activists to align the meanings ascribed to the practice at hand across the regime actors, and 3) understanding the different elements of practice helps identify lock-ins that prevent niche innovations from succeeding. We conclude that it is necessary to change the practices of more resourceful actors in different parts of the regime, especially in policy, in order to move beyond experimental stages of innovation.

Prefigurative politics and social change: a typology drawing on transition studies

ABSTRACT Recent years have seen a surge of interest in prefigurative politics, which refers to the political strategies that model a future society on a micro level and aim to instantiate radical social change in and through practice. While most previous studies have focused on defining the concept and categorizing various types of prefiguration, this paper contributes by investigating under what circumstances prefiguration leads to revolutionary social change. The paper takes an original approach to these issues by turning to transition studies and the socio-technical change literature. This field focuses on the technical equivalence of prefiguration: namely, the relationship between small-scale niche innovations and large-scale technological transitions. Through theoretical discussions and empirical illustrations, this paper presents a typology of five transition pathways through which prefigurative strategies may result in a range of social change outcomes from reformative to revolutionary transformation.

Sustainability transitions in the Global South: a multi-level perspective on urban service delivery

ABSTRACT Urban sustainability in low and middle income countries is rarely studied from a sustainability transitions perspective, though 90% of projected population growth between 2018 and 2050 will be in cities of the Global South. Using principles from grounded theory, this paper explores the relevance of the multi-level perspective (MLP) – a prevalent analytical framework in sustainability transitions theory that has primarily been applied in the Global North – for the study of infrastructure in the Global South. It draws on empirical data collected through case study research in the cities of Ahmedabad, India, and Jinja, Uganda, which have adopted innovative socio-technical approaches to service delivery that respond to the challenges presented by urbanization, climate change and inequality. Applying the MLP to these cases shows how niche innovations by non-state actors in waste management (Ahmedabad) and solar energy (Jinja) can increase access to services, reduce ecological footprints and empower socially excluded groups, in spite (or because) of landscape pressures such as poverty, informality and limited institutional capacity. The observed benefits are attributable not only to technological but also to organizational innovation. These findings may help to develop a more flexible understanding of the types of urban transitions needed and the ways in which those transitions could be achieved. Lessons from alternative socio-technical configurations in the South could be informative for any city looking for service delivery models that better serve contemporary environmental and societal needs.

Socio-technical transitions and innovation niches: the case of the virtual and augmented reality in Europe

<abstract> The paper investigates the socio-technical transition pathways related to innovation niches formation merging the theoretical framework of Strategic Niche Management (SNM) with the Social Network Analysis (SNA) technique. Specifically, focusing on the niche of the virtual and augmented reality, this work tries to shed light on the understanding of the niche development and the related transition towards sustainability. Combining SNM with SNA and utilizing a specific taxonomy, the study allows appreciating the actual cognitive interaction among niche members that determine the transition to succeed. Results show that the investigated niche is characterized by an embryonic stage of development which needs a better support to advance technological shift in order to reinforce the link between Industry 4.0 paradigm and Circular Economy (CE). </abstract>

Digitalisation of Dutch Agriculture: Implications of reducing Nitrogen pollution from livestock cultivation

"For the last many decades, the EU’s intensified agriculture model has shown a significant trend to reinforce the economy while feeding the world. The Netherlands is one of the EU’s member follow neoliberalism in agriculture by importing cheap animal feed &amp; fertilisers and exports meat &amp; dairy products. The intensification of Dutch agriculture results from solid collaborations among the Agriculture Innovation System actors (AIS). Nitrogen (N), being one of the essential elements of building blocks of life, is a vital nutrient, an indicator for global food security, and supports agriculture’s intensification. N in fertilisers and feedstock’s intensive use comes with the consequences of wicked problems such as ammonia (NH3) emissions in the air and nitrates (NOX) leaching in the soil. Around two-thirds of the Dutch farmlands and 80% of the crop, fertiliser is used for livestock cultivation. The Netherlands is famous for technological innovations worldwide (in terms of niche innovation); however, digitalisation is still an ‘alien’ term for Dutch farmers. A lack of landscapelevel technology implementation, weak policy infrastruture for monitoring pollution dynamics is one of the leading causes of the nitrogen crisis in the Netherlands. The N-crisis is causing distress in farmers, and the government is struggling for effective policy implementation. Therefore, there is a need for state-of-art initiatives which utilise maximum involvement of technology and the environment with minimum (government) efforts. This holistic and explorative cast-study research highlights the challenges and consequences of the Digitalisation of Agriculture Innovation System (DAIS) to resolve the Dutch N-crisis. Different aspects of research covered are 1) to address associates knowledge gaps, 2) analyse the cause of complex N-crisis in the Netherlands, 3) to analyse the current state of Dutch policy infrastructure &amp; challenges and 4) to analyse present &amp; future trend of DAIS transformations. This will ultimately lead to technology and policy recommendation supporting multi- stakeholders collaboration, creating a market of Nitrogen Trading System (NTS) at multiple levels and using digitalisation as a key for establishing Sustainable System Transformation (SST)."

Microgrids and the transition toward decentralized energy systems in the United States: A Multi-Level Perspective

The increasing penetration of microgrids in appears to be part of a transition toward electricity distribution systems that are more decentralized than the current system. With microgrids gaining space as a competing and parallel distribution grid model and challenging the current centralized grid system, studying their adoption presents an opportunity to understand this socio-technical transition in the energy system. This study looks at this ongoing change in the United States and applies the Multi-Level Perspective framework to explore the drivers, contexts, processes, policies, institutions, and interactions that affect the adoption of microgrids. Through a qualitative case study analysis of California, New York, and Oregon, the study finds that natural disasters, massive power outages and climate change concerns have acted as key pressures for the adoption of microgrids. At the same time, the electric power system maintains important stabilization mechanisms, such as the availability of cheap and abundant electricity, as well a market structure that limits the opportunities of entry and profit for third-party developers, which make it harder for niche innovations like microgrids to break in. In addition, this study finds that state support in the form of funding and legislation is crucial for nurturing the microgrid niche market.

How to bridge the gap between innovation niches and exploratory and exploitative innovations in open innovation ecosystems

In the context of open innovation business environments, more and more firms are joining together and creating innovation ecosystems to improve their innovation capabilities by interacting with heterogeneous actors. Yet, there has been little research that has examined the mechanisms regarding how and when firms within such open innovation ecosystems could enhance their innovation capabilities. To address this gap, we propose and empirically test a conceptual framework for understanding the internal mechanisms and contextual conditions in the relationship between a firm’s innovation niche and its exploratory and exploitative innovations. Using a sample of 327 Chinese manufacturing firms in strategic emerging industries, we find that a firm’s innovation niche within an open innovation ecosystem has a positive impact on its exploratory and exploitative innovations, and we demonstrate that these relationships are mediated by the innovation ecological network. Additionally, we find that the innovation ecological environment moderates the relationship between a firm’s innovation niche and the innovation ecological network. Furthermore, we show that the innovation ecological environment moderates the indirect effects of a firm’s innovation niche on its exploratory and exploitative innovations via the innovation ecological network. These results not only enrich the research on open innovation ecosystems but also provide important managerial implications for implementing innovation niche initiatives to foster firms’ exploratory and exploitative innovations.

Transiciones socio-tecnológicas en el Soconusco. La reconfiguración del paisaje a través de nichos de innovación en fincas cafetaleras

Se analizaron las transiciones sociales y tecnológicas que han tenido las fincas cafetaleras en el Soconusco, Chiapas, para mantenerse competitivas ante el estrés climático que anualmente amenaza la producción agrícola, así como ante los shocks económicos y políticos con respecto a los precios y comercialización internacional del café en las últimas cuatro décadas. Se recurre al concepto de transiciones socio-tecnológicas, destacando los nichos de innovación que desde la segunda mitad del siglo XX han implementado los propietarios de las fincas en sus prácticas de cultivo y políticas laborales; estos nichos han escalado a nuevos regímenes tecnológicos que han configurado un nuevo paisaje socio-tecnológico a nivel región. Se emplearon datos obtenidos a partir de literatura especializada con información recabada en trabajo de campo, entrevistando a finqueros y a productores del Soconusco, concluyendo que el régimen socio-tecnológico regional transitó de la explotación laboral y el monocultivo a la inclusión y la cooperación social, la valoración ambiental y cultural de los recursos regionales.

Competition and the Rapid Scaling of Niche Innovations: The Case of Southeast Asia’s Ride-Hailing Industry (2012–2019)

Radical niche innovations by digital sharing economy start-ups in urban mobility have undergone unprecedented, rapid upscaling in user adoption across global cities. How these niche innovations can scale fast through competition between the niche actors remains understudied in the strategic niche management literature. Through a case analysis of the digital ride-hailing industry in Southeast Asia across six countries, we explore how four niche actors—Grab, EasyTaxi, Uber and Gojek—rapidly scaled ride-hailing innovations in less than seven years. The case analysis revealed that niche competition between market entrants and the underlying support of venture capital funding played important roles in accelerating socio-technical transition processes. We contribute a deeper understanding of rapid socio-technical transitions enabled by digital technology, particularly on the active and innovating role that regime actors play in transition dynamics.

Systemic design for territorial enhancement: An overview on design tools supporting socio-technical system innovation

The sustainable transition of the regional and urban systems in which we live represents a crucial challenge for our societies and requires a new integrated vision of the social, environmental, cultural, political and economic dimensions. Territorial systems can be considered as socio-technical systems, made up of a complex network of infrastructure and facilities and also of human interactions and activities. So far, the sustainable innovation of socio-technical systems has often been concerned with the introduction of sustainable technological solutions, but today it is clear how specific solutions must be framed from a systems perspective. The paper aims at providing a comprehensive analysis of the design tools able to support this systemic transition, starting from the analysis of the macro-strategies developed by the transition studies, in particular the Multi-level Perspective model. Through a cross-analysis with the main design fields related to the systemic design domain, four types of tools are highlighted, which aim at (i) establishing learning processes;(ii) building multi-stakeholder networks; (iii) sharing foresight visions; (iv) enhancing green niche innovations. The comparison of the different tools enables pointing out the contribution of systemic design to territorial enhancement, stressing the contact points and potential synergies between different design approaches.

Reassessing the Role of Shared Mobility Services in a Transport Transition: Can They Contribute the Rise of an Alternative Socio-Technical Regime of Mobility?

Recent years have seen a proliferation of platform-based “shared mobility services” (SMS) such as car-, bike-, and e-scooter-sharing in many cities in Germany and around the world. At the same time, these services have become the subject of intense debates: Are they replacing private car travel, thus contributing to sustainable mobility in cities? Or are they drawing users away from public transit and cycling while obstructing public space? From the perspective of sustainable mobility politics, it seems far from clear which role these new services could play in transitioning to a less car-centric mobility system. While a number of potential effects and ensuing governance issues of shared mobility services (e.g., regarding questions of equitable access, data governance, the role of public versus private actors) have already been studied, this article explores the role of shared mobility services (SMS) in triggering system dynamics and feedback loops in the context of sustainability transitions. The article connects questions regarding the sustainability effects of “shared mobility services” with the role of “push” measures to reduce private car traffic in cities. Using a theoretical framework from socio-technical transitions research and from the sociology of technology, it describes the recent growth of shared mobility services in Berlin as an example of the upscaling dynamics of socio-technical niche innovations. Drawing on a series of workshops with mobility service providers and representatives of public authorities, it analyses the potential for conflict as well as for coalition-building between service providers and public authorities. Based on the theoretical concept of the role of feedback loops and windows of opportunity for transitions, it shows how the market growth of shared mobility services has added momentum to an already ongoing political debate over the legitimate use of public space in Berlin. Against this backdrop, the article discusses how growing numbers of car-, bike-, and e-scooter-sharing vehicles could open up windows of opportunity for re-distributing space away from private cars. The article concludes that supporting and regulating SMS will be key to steering their growth in the direction of sustainability.

Sustainability transition evaluation of urban transportation using fuzzy logic method-the case of Jiangsu Province

City sprawl and rapid increase of petroleum-fueled passenger vehicles has attracted a lot of attention due to concerns of resource energy scarcity and associated environmental damage. This paper uses the transition theory of socio-technical system from the multi-level perspective to analyze the internal mechanism of urban transportation’s transition process and find the most sustainable measures to promote transition. A set of evaluation indicators are constructed for the urban transportation sustainability transition from macro landscape, meso regime and micro niche. Then these indicators are applied to 13 cities in Jiangsu Province and calculate scores of each using triangular fuzzy logic method. The results show that: most cities are in the ‘medium’ stage of transportation transition, while only 4 cities in the ‘relatively poor’ stage. Development of micro niche plays vital role in promoting the transition of urban transportation towards sustainability. Adequate infrastructure support and detailed implementation policies should be developed to protect the steady growth of innovation niches.

Sustainability transitions in agri-food systems: insights from South Korea’s universal free, eco-friendly school lunch program

Government-sponsored school lunch programs have garnered attention from activists and policymakers for their potential to promote public health, sustainable diets, and food sovereignty. However, across country contexts, these programs often fall far short of their transformative potential. It is vital, then, to identify policies and organizing strategies that enable school lunch programs to be redesigned at the national scale. In this article, we use document analysis of historical newspapers and government data to examine the motivating factors and underlying conditions that allowed South Korea’s universal free, eco-friendly (UFEF) school lunch program to become a tool for advancing social justice and ecological goals at the national scale. We analyze the socio-historical evolution and current status of the Korean school lunch program, combining the multi-level perspective with insights from environmental sociology and critical food studies, in order to shed light on the factors that enabled the program to become an innovative niche and articulate the opportunities and challenges it now faces. We identify the state-sponsored creation of what we call “precautionary infrastructure” as a key anchoring mechanism between the school food niche and agri-food regime. Precautionary infrastructure includes new supply chains, certification standards, and sourcing policies that provide a stable market for eco-friendly farms and small-scale producers, while minimizing the environmental health risks of school lunch by delivering organic and pesticide-free ingredients to on-site kitchens that serve free lunches to all students. This analysis offers insight into how public school-lunch programs can become protected niches that help drive sustainability transitions within agri-food systems.

Rethinking the meaning of “landscape shocks” in energy transitions: German social representations of the Fukushima nuclear accident

Sociotechnical sustainability transitions are understood to involve changes in cultural meaning, alongside a wide variety of other changes. One of the most popular conceptual models of such change, the multi-level perspective, exogenously locates slow-changing cultural factors in the ‘sociotechnical landscape’, viewing this landscape as periodically subject to ‘shocks’ that may support the break-through of niche innovations. Here we emphasise that shock to a sociotechnical system has social psychological dimensions, including meaning-related correlates. Accordingly, we apply social representations theory, as a theory of meaning, to provide a social psychological account of energy landscape shock and associated policy change. For illustration we take newspaper representations of the 2011 German social and policy response to the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. The study illustrates the inter-related role of affect, identity and symbolic meaning-making in the public response to a sociotechnical landscape shock.

Acting as an innovation niche seeder:how can the reverse salient of southeast Asian economies be overcome?

Taking Southeast Asian emerging economies as an empirical case, this study explores how the reverse salients that have emerged during the transitional process may be overcome efficiently and effectively. In particular, three action-oriented case studies derived from a heuristic research approach are presented to show how Taiwan is empowering its universities and public research institutes to act as innovation niche seeders for Southeast Asian economies, thereby compensating for the weakness of their socio-technical systems (i.e. the reverse salients). Presently, the government-led policies of Southeast Asian countries are largely oriented towards incentivizing foreign multinational corporations to lead the development of domestic production networks. This strategy allows these countries to acquire the necessary resources for an economic transition in the era of digitalization, although at the expense of developing their own innovation niches. This study presents the urgency of a need for a new approach, and a new avenue for emerging countries to develop an effective and efficient governance model. The proposed model would allow external institutional mechanisms, such as universities and public research institutes, to act as critical intermediaries providing an alternative solution for the dilemmas faced by small and medium-sized enterprise-centric emerging countries. Policy implications for building sustainable socio-technical regimes in Southeast Asia’s transitional emerging countries are also discussed.

Sector coupling of renewable energy in an experimental setting

The integration of previously unconnected sectors of the energy system is considered one of the most important strategies for reducing CO2 emissions. Many studies on technological innovations that deal with the transition to a sustainable energy system focus on innovation niches as a favorable environment within which new solutions can be tested and made ready for the market. This paper examines how protection in such a niche, in combination with organizational path dependency, supports the integration of renewable energy in residential buildings. The results presented are based on a case study on the integration of the electricity, heat, and gas sectors in a housing pilot project, in which local energy needs are met and electricity is fed into the grid in a flexible way. Our findings indicate that favorable conditions for inter-sectoral innovation can be achieved through niche protection, complemented by path dependency in organizational routines and culture.

The paradox of planning for transformation: the case of the integrated sustainable urban development strategy in Val\xe8ncia (Spain)

Urban transformation towards sustainability requires deep systemic change in economic, social, environmental, cultural, organisational, governmental, and physical terms. Considering this challenge, this paper aims to explore the potentials and limitations of urban planning to incorporate an urban transition management approach that strives to enable such deep transformation processes.Taking the Integrated Sustainable Urban Development (ISUD) Strategy for district regeneration in Valencia (Spain) as a case study, the analysis and discussion elaborate on the main barriers and enablers for urban planning to incorporate a transition perspective when tackling urban sustainability challenges. Four main fields of tension emerge as particularly relevant: 1) Democratic representation versus involvement of forerunner innovators, 2) Formal decision-making procedures versus reflexivity and social learning, 3) Standardised project formats versus open processes of searching and experimentation, and 4) Fragmented policy agendas and budget lines versus integrated and multi-sectoral interventions.The case study illustrates how urban planning struggles to align its rationale with requirements for managing complex sustainability transformations. The findings point to a paradox inherent in planning for transformation: although urban planning necessarily incorporates the values and rules of the currently dominant urban systems, it also has the potential to create windows of opportunity for niche innovations to emerge at district or even city level. Therefore, urban planning processes form an arena in which conflicts between niches and regimes are negotiated.

Niche evolution, external circumstances, and network transformation

This article analyses the impact of external factors on niche evolution and, in particular, the change from a technical niche into a socio-technical niche. When we review the literature on niche evolution, we find that discussions on the impact of external factors on niche evolution are not clear, particularly, on new financial sponsors’ expectations. Therefore, this paper attempts to answer the following research question: Do changes in public financial resources contribute to transforming a technical niche into a socio-technical niche? We analysed an agricultural innovation niche case based on Butiá Native Fruits (e.g. Butiá odorata and others species), developed mainly by Temperate Climate Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) to understand whether and how external factors might contribute to an evolution of a niche. We found that new financial sponsors’ expectations can cause an important change in the evolution of a niche. Before the existence of a new external finance sponsor, the technical network niche was composed of research organisations and researchers working on isolated projects. However, after a new external finance sponsor was found, the network or organisations moved into experimental activities, upscaling, and outscaling, and began to incorporate multilevel organisations and people. Consequently, a more complex, coordinated organisation was created that incorporated social co-production, democracy, and participation, and the niche progressed towards a socio-technical niche.

A green transition in South Africa? Sociotechnical experimentation in the Atlantis Special Economic Zone

AbstractSouth Africa faces interconnected challenges of developing and diversifying its economy and adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change. A green policy tilt is ascendant in the country, manifest in a cascading array of policies and special initiatives. Utilising concepts from the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions, we assess Africa's first designated Green Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Atlantis SEZ (ASEZ) in the Western Cape, a niche innovation aimed at transforming the Province's industrial base. This initiative is very ambitious in four respects: (1) it links green SEZ development in a deprived metropolitan area to the broader regional economy; (2) it utilises an innovative governance structure; (3) it promises localization economies and export potential; and (4) it connects SEZ niche experimentation with emergent renewable energy regimes. While elements are in place which might seed a sociotechnical transition, societal and political forces (i.e. landscape features) continue to limit its realisation, highlighting the immanent, structural realities shaping South Africa's economic futures.