Transition Intermediaries Research Articles

Create and strengthening innovation ecosystem: roles of policy-affiliated transition intermediaries in latecomers

Purpose This study aims to explore the functions of policy-affiliated intermediaries and their roles in driving innovation in latecomers. Design/methodology/approach Latecomers have recently recognized the significance of an innovation ecosystem in transitioning to an innovation-driven economy. However, these countries encounter various market and system failures, making policy-affiliated transition intermediaries crucial in orchestrating innovation ecosystems. To achieve this, this study used a case study of a policy-affiliated intermediary and conducted interviews with 19 managers. The results from the content analysis revealed that innovation intermediaries in latecomers perform more comprehensive duties than those mentioned in the literature in the transition to innovation-based development. Findings Results show that the most important of policy-affiliated innovation intermediaries’ roles is orientation to the government and private sector market, attracting the participation of the private sector through the implementation of tax credits and the development of the corporate innovation ecosystem, developing science and technology parks, developing laboratory research infrastructure, supporting prominent and capable professors to create innovation networks, developing innovation zones around research institutions and leading universities and developing international scientific cooperation. These are new and important functions that innovation intermediaries should play in the transition process. Originality/value The research found that the innovation intermediary acts as a change agent in the mental model of other executive and decision-making bodies. Also result shows that this intermediaries can play more roles than what is mentioned in the literature for the development of innovation.

Spare or transform? Agency frames in transition intermediaries

Climate emergency is widely acknowledged. However, our institutions are struggling to find new intervention types to accelerate the transition. This paper analyses this struggle by combining agency theories and discursive approaches to study transition intermediaries, i.e, organizations seeking to foster the transition activities of others. The internal meaning structures of intermediaries are described as interlocking shared action frames, i.e., beliefs and meanings underpining their activities. These frames are characterized through the definition of pairs of contrasting frame elements along eleven framing dimensions. This conceptualization allows for a semi-quantitative mapping of internal structures. The method is developped and illustrated with the in-depth case study of a Swiss regional utility department running an energy efficiency programme. Analysing a series of exploratory workshops, we find that established frames revolve around technology-oriented, managerial approaches to the transition, ultimately narrowing the range of imaginable interventions. While these are well-studied shortcomings of energy efficiency centred approaches, further observations suggest that these frames underpin the perception of intervention impacts, helping keep staff and recipients involved. To strike a balance between energy saving targets and transformative ambitions, this paper suggests revising programme evaluation logics and reframing technological solutions as responses, rather than substitutes, to practice changes.

The roles and dynamics of transition intermediaries in enabling sustainable public food procurement: insights from Spain

Abstract Sustainable Public Food Procurement (SPFP) is gaining recognition for its potential to improve the sustainability of food systems and promote healthier diets. However, SPFP faces various challenges, including coordination issues, actor dynamics, infrastructure limitations, unsustainable habits, and institutional resistance, among others. Drawing upon insights from the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) on socio-technical transitions and the X-curve model on transition dynamics, this study investigates the role of transition intermediaries in facilitating SPFP-induced transformations in food systems. Focusing on four case studies in Spain, we identify common barriers encountered in SPFP and analyse how distinct types of transition intermediaries contribute individually and collectively to address these challenges. Additionally, we explore how intermediary networks evolve throughout different phases of the transition process. Our findings reveal that SPFP barriers are systemic and interconnected, emphasizing the necessity of collective intermediation to overcome these obstacles. Furthermore, our results reveal how collective intermediation is orchestrated by pivotal intermediaries who mobilize diverse transition intermediaries, shaping multiple transition pathways. These intermediaries operate at both food system regimes and niches, challenging the conventional notion that transformative change can only originate from niche efforts. Lastly, we highlight the dynamic and flexible nature of intermediation in SPFP transitions, underscoring the importance of adaptability in strategies as these transitions evolve over time. Practical implications include the need for context-specific, adaptive approaches and strategies that leverage intermediary diversity. This research offers insights for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars into SPFP and broader transitions towards food systems transformation, fostering a more comprehensive understanding of these transition processes.

Managing sustainable transition through farmer-owned enterprises: the case of Ram Rahim Pragati Producer Company

PurposeFood systems research is typically focused on productivity and efficiency. But in the face of impending challenges of climate, investment, markets, and incomes small holders may do well to shift to diversity and sufficiency. The transition requires institutions such as Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) to play the role of intermediaries. This paper aims to understand this challenging phenomenon using a case from India.Design/methodology/approachIn this article, drawing from the emerging literature of PO as a sustainability transition intermediary, this paper uses the case study of a women-owned FPO and explores its role in contributing to sustainable food systems through practices of non-pesticide management of agriculture. This paper explores, through non-participant observer methods, focus group discussions and interviews with multiple stakeholders how an FPO embeds sustainability in its purpose and the challenges faced in transforming producer and consumers towards sustainable food systems.FindingsThe study argues for early articulation of the “sustainability transition intermediary” role in the FPO’s vision and mission. Second, FPOs’ role of being a transition intermediary is impacted by the key stakeholders and the durability of relationship with them.Originality/valueBy studying FPOs in India, from the framework of sustainability transitions, this article adds to the limited literature that looks as POs as sustainability transition intermediaries.

Governing the net-zero transition: Strategy, policy, and politics.

This paper applies insights from the literature on transitions in major consumption-production systems to clarify the nature of the challenge of moving to a net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission society. It highlights critical features of transitions including their multiactor/multicausal logic, phased development, and distributive impacts. Because current systems are so dependent on fossil energy resources, and on GHG-emitting industrial processes and agricultural practices, multiple transitions across a range of distinct consumption-production systems will be required for net zero. The transformation of each system faces different barriers and enabling conditions and is influenced by varied nonclimate-related disruptions. Important policy implications follow, including the need to focus on sector and regional transitions, link climate policy to other societal goals, and adopt policy mixes appropriate to the transition phase. The article discusses recent policy and politics-related findings from the transitions literatures including those dealing with policy mixes, transition intermediaries, and green industrial policy.

Supporting municipalities to develop collaboration capability to facilitate urban transitions and sustainability: Role of transition intermediaries in Madrid

Transition management literature acknowledges that urban transitions are influenced by the interplay between a wide variety of actors operating under network governance. This means that municipalities must move from the traditional roles of commanders or implementers to those of initiators and facilitators of transition initiatives involving multiple actors and sectors. However, the structural and cultural challenges in municipalities hinder their ability to collaborate in network environments. Through a case study, this study analyses the role of transition intermediaries as expert organizations in building collaborations that support municipalities in developing their relational collaboration potential. The results show that besides building successful collaborations, intermediation work should focus on creating inter-organizational spaces where municipalities can learn how to collaborate relationally. However, transition intermediaries do not replace municipalities in their facilitation role in the transition but support them until they are ready to assume that role.

Exploring the Role of Intermediaries in the Acceleration Stage of the Energy Transition: A Comparative Case Study of Two Local Energy Projects

AbstractTransition intermediaries are expected to play an important role in the acceleration stage of the energy transition. While existing scholarship helps us understand the role of transition intermediaries in the early stages of transitions, it remains unclear what role intermediation plays in subsequent transition stages, especially at the local level where the implementation of policies and legislation takes place. In this article, we aim to investigate how intermediation takes shape in the acceleration stage of the energy transition. Drawing on the literature on transition intermediaries and intermediation at the local level, we explore the role of transition intermediaries in two local energy projects in the Netherlands. Through extensive qualitative research, we find that various actors can act as transition intermediaries and that a single actor can fulfil different intermediary roles simultaneously. Our findings contribute to the literature on transition intermediation and urban intermediaries, emphasising the key role intermediaries play in aligning innovations with existing institutional configurations. Furthermore, we highlight their role in connecting the energy transition to broader societal developments, including through citizen involvement in local and regional governance arrangements.

Bridging the old and the new in sustainability transitions: The role of transition intermediaries in facilitating urban experimentation

As experimentation with niche innovations confronts the old with the new, intermediaries are important to bridge innovative niches and established regimes. While there is a broad literature on experimentation to foster urban sustainability transitions, there is limited understanding of intermediaries acting as facilitators and translators. Previous studies of transition intermediaries in urban experimentation adopt a scaling-centric focus, which rests on the assumption that novelty emerges within niches and impacts regimes through processes of scaling-up. By contrast, this study shifts towards a reconfiguration perspective to move beyond the niche-regime dichotomy and provide a more fine-grained conception of how novelty emerges in-between niches and regimes, as well as through within-regime dynamics. This is to build a dialogue between the literature on urban experimentation and the literature on intermediaries in sustainability transitions. It is to shed light on the ambigious and heterogeneous nature of regime actors: they do not only reproduce path dependencies, but can also facilitate path creation. It implies a shift from a meso- towards a micro-level of analysis, which reveals the variety of intermediaries and their interactions. The study provides an empirical exploration of niche and regime intermediaries in local experimentation by analysing the transdisciplinary research project “Dresden – City of the Future: Empowering Citizens, Transforming Cities!”. The qualitative case study follows an explorative approach, which provides empirical insights on intermediaries’ activities that could not be anticipated during the initial research design. The interaction between niche and regime intermediaries shows the importance of recognising the dialectic nature of change from below and change from above. While niche intermediaries acted more as visionaries, knowledge brokers and advocates of change, regime intermediaries acted more as guides and facilitators, creating a shared institutional infrastructure and coordinating local-level activities. It reveals the (dis)empowering dynamics that underlie niche-regime interaction but also power struggles regime intermediaries are confronted with. These findings provide insights for governance strategies to strengthen the position of transition intermediaries. They suggest that the work of intermediaries should no longer be hidden and informal but recognised as an essential part of transition governance. A variety of both niche and regime intermediaries should be fostered to build interfaces between niches and regimes, and bring about reconfiguration.

An agroecological turn in intermediating sustainability transitions with continuous living cover

Continuous living cover's (CLC) perennial and winter annual crop varieties present a novel opportunity to increase the diversity and resiliency of agroecological systems in the Mid-Continent of North America. However, transforming the predominant agri-food regime remains a complex and daunting undertaking. In the face of such complexity, a recent body of literature highlights the particular importance of intermediaries in facilitating sustainability transition processes, which CLC agriculture's proponents can draw upon. Intermediaries can be defined as actors or organizations that positively influence sustainability transition processes by linking diverse entities, networks, institutions, activities and their related skills, knowledges, and resources. Simultaneously, agroecology, in the more political understanding of the term, can serve as an evaluative framework for agri-food transition processes to augment our understanding of intermediaries in sustainability transitions. This mini-review presents an overview of the emerging sustainability transition intermediary literature, an introduction to CLC agriculture's transition intermediaries, and the research gaps highlighted from an agroecological perspective. Integrating an agroecological lens attentive to the science, practice, and politics of intermediating agricultural transitions, this review proposes an adapted framework to understand and assess CLC agriculture's intermediaries. Thus, CLC agriculture presents a unique opportunity to iteratively draw upon and advance the sustainability transition intermediary literature.

Food policy networks and their potential to stimulate systemic intermediation for food system transformation

Food policy networks (FPNs) are innovative governance instruments that aim to stimulate much-needed food system transformation. However, there is limited insight into what factors affect their potential to be impactful. This study aimed to investigate what challenges FPNs as systemic transition intermediaries face and how they navigate those challenges. We analyzed four Dutch FPNs using interviews, document analysis, and participant observation. Five major challenges were identified: (1) establishing a diverse core group, (2) engaging with specific actor groups, (3) developing a shared vision and transition pathways, (4) positioning an FPN vis-à-vis government, and (5) meaningfully connecting with other intermediaries. Although several navigation strategies were identified, three elements are considered important for Dutch FPNs and other early development stage FPNs to strengthen their potential to engage in systemic intermediation. First, FPNs need strengthening of their transformative leadership capacity to stimulate production of transformative knowledge and establish meaningful connections to other FPNs. Second, FPNs need stronger partnerships with higher education and research institutions. Third, FPNs need representation of different actor roles to integrate transformative transdisciplinary research approaches. R&I policy support and competence development are essential to stimulate all three and, thus, support FPNs in their ambition to contribute to food system transformation.

The politics of intermediation in transitions: Conflict and contestation over energy efficiency policy

This study investigates transition intermediation in energy efficiency regulation for buildings and light vehicles in Australia by using an analytical framework that draws on transition literature and the multiple streams approach (MSA) from policy studies. By focusing on Australian cases, this study examines required functions of transition intermediaries in a highly politicised context in which sustainability transitions are contested to improve an understanding of transition-oriented policy processes, including policy failures. The findings highlight the role of transition intermediaries that brought knowledge capacity into policy processes, advocated for new policy visions, and built consensus on policy proposals. The analysis suggests that the functional influence of transition intermediaries is particularly important when there is conflict among organised interests. In doing so, this study offers new insight into how transition intermediation is shaping the dynamics of energy transitions in politicised contexts.

Exploring the role of local governments as intermediaries to facilitate partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals

• Partnerships as a key for localizing the Sustainable Development Goals. • Local governments can enhance intermediary roles for partnership with private sectors. • The Sustainable Development Goals recognized as a driver for sustainable transitions. • Balancing the level of public sector's involvement in partnerships. • New intermediaries can be created by local governments. Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires localization and multi-stakeholder partnerships, and local governments have the best potential to act as intermediaries to facilitate partnerships. This study examines how local governments have facilitated partnerships for the SDGs, especially partnerships with private sectors. It focuses on how local governments conducted their intermediary roles from the perspective of sustainable transitions and analyzes Japanese cases. The results of our analysis provide the following suggestions for local governments to enhance their intermediary roles to facilitate partnerships for the SDGs. First, the SDGs should be recognized as a driver of sustainable transitions. Second, there needs a balance in terms of the level of the public sector's involvement in partnerships, so that local governments can maximize the benefits of informal networks in relation to SDG localization. Third, new intermediaries can be created by local governments. The findings of this study contribute to the growing body of literature on SDG localization and partnerships by identifying possible roles and suggestions that local governments can adopt as transition intermediaries.

Producer organizations as transition intermediaries? Insights from organic and conventional vegetable systems in Uruguay

Increased pressures on agri-food systems have indicated the importance of intermediaries to facilitate sustainability transitions. While producer organizations are acknowledged as intermediaries between individual producers and other food system actors, their role as sustainability transition intermediaries remains understudied. This paper explores the potential of producer organizations as transition intermediaries to support producers in their needs to adopt sustainable production practices. Ten cases of producer organizations in conventional (regime) and organic (niche) vegetable systems in Uruguay were studied qualitatively. Findings show that the classic intermediary roles that producer organizations fulfil in food systems also address the needs of producers in their transition to sustainable food systems. By providing organic inputs, organizing access to output markets, sharing knowledge, and facilitating sustainable production practices, producer organizations support producers within and across regime and niche. Producer organizations mostly function as implicit transition intermediaries, facilitated by their legitimacy among producers, their embeddedness in rural networks, and by refraining from taking a strong normative position. Producer organizations have the potential to be more explicit transition intermediaries, however this position comes with limitations. We provide policy recommendations to optimize the transition intermediary potential of producer organizations in their facilitation towards sustainable food systems.

Dynamism in policy-affiliated transition intermediaries

Transition intermediaries are actors that support socio-technical transition processes by bridging structural deficiencies in a transitioning domain. Previous research has identified what roles transition intermediaries perform and how. However, while transitioning domains are by definition in a state of change, the dynamics of transition intermediaries have hardly been studied. Therefore, we explore what mechanisms are driving change in transition-supportive roles of intermediaries, and what kind of conditions enable an intermediary to be dynamically adaptive in supporting a transitioning domain. These questions are addressed in a longitudinal case study of a major European intermediary in sustainable energy. We find this intermediary changed its transition support activities as a result of the frontline staff continually exploring the needs of transition stakeholders and designing new value offerings in response. These role dynamics are enabled by a structure where the policy principal delegates the choice of support activity and external accountability to the intermediary, which organizes itself in a customer-oriented manner. As such, we conclude that the dynamics in intermediaries’ transition activities arise from the interplay between policy mandate, organizational structure/design and staff agency.

The role of niche and regime intermediaries in building partnerships for urban transitions towards sustainability

ABSTRACT The recent literature on intermediaries in urban sustainability transitions has studied their role as a translator between innovative niches and incumbent regimes. In urban sustainability transitions, intermediaries from both civil society and public institutions seek to bridge diverging world views and communicate innovative lessons learned back to the incumbent regime. How these intermediaries are embedded in local governance contexts and how the political dynamics inherent to urban sustainability transitions play out remains a research gap. As these transitions require political consensus-building, we explore the interaction between Transition Town Initiatives (TTIs) as niche intermediaries seeking to transform society from below, and regime-based transition intermediaries operating from above. In a comparative study of four German cities, we analyse why and how niche and regime intermediaries build partnerships for urban transitions towards sustainability. While Transition Town Hannover and Bluepingu in Nuremberg have successfully established partnerships with the municipalities, Transition Town Göttingen and Transition Town Kassel have struggled in their efforts to do so. These differences can be explained by the interactions between structural conditions, political priorities and institution-building, as well as the proficiency of transition intermediaries.

Building communities in times of crisis - Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work of transition intermediaries in the energy sector

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic affects people worldwide. The policies in response to the virus range from closure of national borders to curfews for entire metropolises, like Paris. While we can expect severe impacts on the world economy, the consequences of the pandemic for local sustainability transitions are entirely unclear. In this exploratory study, we investigate how the current situation affects the work of transition intermediaries in the energy sector. More concretely, we aim to analyse the impact of COVID-19 policies on community energy projects and the subsequent change of work practices of intermediaries in this situation. Our data consists of qualitative data we collected between January and October 2020. Our results show that transition intermediaries are affected in different ways. Most notably, the work on networking suffers during these times of crisis. We found that intermediaries are particularly challenged in their ability to build trust. This particularly affects new and complex community energy projects and intermediation activities needed for systemic change. We found that established projects with a strong trust base are least affected by these limitations. Intermediaries dependent on private funding face much bigger problems than publically funded organisations. Our results offer some novel and relevant insights in the role and work of transition intermediaries and the development of community energy projects in times of crisis. These findings can help governments, intermediary organizations and citizen groups to design future transition processes in ways that are more resilient to external shocks.

Regime-based transition intermediaries at the grassroots for community energy initiatives

This paper investigates the support network surrounding community energy initiatives in Ireland and the potential for locally embedded organisations- which are co-ordinated centrally but consist of nation-wide local factions built on volunteerism- to act as regime-based transition intermediaries at the grassroots level to support the development and scaling up of projects in the community energy space. Building on the transition literature on intermediation, we take an innovative approach to network mapping to highlight the organisations, agencies and intermediaries supporting 9 of the most developed community energy initiatives in Ireland. On from this, we investigate the potential of a regime-based transition intermediary to support community energy at the local level, taking the Tidy Towns as the organisation under investigation. Within this, locally embedded organisations are suggested as having the ability to play a networking function for the scaling up of community energy initiatives through network development and trust building, aligning with the need to expedite the transition to a low-carbon society.

Non‐governmental organisations and universities as transition intermediaries in sustainability transformations building on grassroots initiatives

Although niche grassroots initiatives can push bottom‐up sustainability transitions, they can face problems in forming a more global niche and in scaling their innovative solutions to a regime level. A thorough literature review shows scholarly agreement on the assumption that universities and non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) can support sustainability transition in the acceleration phase by intermediating within niches and between niches and regimes. As in‐depth research and a reality check on successful intermediary strategies in this context are still lacking, this paper aims to contribute to a conceptual framework that integrates the NGOs and universities expected activities in existing literature and relates them to one another. We develop such a framework and test it in three case studies from the plastic revaluation field, comparing and drawing on the perspectives of niche, intermediary and regime actors. Findings confirm the conceptual framework and suggest changes and extensions. We enhance existing knowledge by providing detailed insights into successful intermediary activities in these innovation systems and draw conclusions for policymakers.

Complexity, tensions, and ambiguity of intermediation in a transition context: The case of Connecting Mobility

In this paper, we demonstrate the complexity of intermediation in practice. Intermediaries are seen as crucial actors in a transition process, but so far the transition intermediary literature has had a positive bias towards their role. We mobilize strong structuration theory to develop an analytical perspective that captures how complexity, tensions, and ambiguity influence the transition intermediary’s role and activities. We apply the perspective to the case of Connecting Mobility, a transition intermediary in the Dutch smart mobility field. Results show that Connecting Mobility has fulfilled several transition intermediary roles to different degrees, both simultaneously and sequentially, but they also experienced difficulties in fulfilling these. We conclude that the roles and the engagement of transition intermediaries in meaningful activities are a response to their dynamic context and internal learning processes. As an additional consequence, a single transition intermediary’s direct impact on the overall transition process should not be overstated.

Passing the baton: How intermediaries advance sustainability transitions in different phases

Recently, increasing attention has been paid to intermediaries, actors connecting multiple other actors, in transition processes. Research has highlighted that intermediary actors (e.g. innovation funders, energy agencies, NGOs, membership organisations, or internet discussion forums) operate in many levels to advance transitions. We argue that intermediation, and the need for it, varies during the course of transition. Yet, little explicit insight exists on intermediation in different transition phases. We integrate existing conceptual models on transition dynamics and phases and a typology of transition intermediaries to examine how intermediaries advance transitions in different phases. We illustrate our conceptual insights through examples from car clubs, heat pumps and low-energy housing. We conclude that intermediation is paramount from predevelopment to stabilisation of a transition. Intermediary functions change from supporting experimentation and articulation of needs in predevelopment, to the aggregation of knowledge, pooling resources, network building and stronger institutional support and capacity building in acceleration.