Institutional Leverages in Technological Innovation Systems (ILTIS): The Case of Biomass Digestion Technology

The role of institutions in technological innovation systems

It is widely acknowledged in the literature on technological change and innovation systems that regulatory, normative and cognitive institutions play a key role for the development and diffusion of innovations. In fact, it is the dynamic interplay of institutions and organizations that largely determines the course of technology development. Despite the importance ascribed to institutions and institutional change, there is little consensus on how to systematically analyze institutions and their role in innovation processes. This is all the more striking in fields such as ‘sustainable innovations’, where environmental regulations, public support programs and normative views can be strong institutional drivers, while at the same time the technology is opposed by established institutional structures that support less sustainable technology alternatives.

In this project, we want to develop, empirically apply and refine a conceptual framework for studying the role of institutions for the development of technological innovation systems. Our focus will be on technological innovation systems that are embedded in a broader institutional context. A technological innovation system (TIS) is a set of actors and institutions in a specific technological field, which contribute to the generation, diffusion and utilization of a new technology or product. The context of the TIS includes other actors and institutions, e.g. at a national level or in economic sectors related to the novel technology. Developments in the context shape the emerging technology although there remains leeway for strategic actions of TIS actors. Context institutions include, for example, professional cultures, values and beliefs in the different sectors, dominant modes of collaboration, collective expectations, user preferences but also more aggregated institutional structures related to research and education in a country, labor markets or legal and financial systems.

Research questions

The underlying hypothesis of our project is that a systematic analysis of the institutional context and its interplay with the TIS is a key element for understanding how new technologies develop. Such an analysis has to encompass the regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive dimension of institutions and take into account that context institutions as well as the relations of the TIS and its contexts may change over time, e.g. as a consequence of actor strategies.

Three major research questions guide our work. How do different kinds of institutions in the context influence the course of technology development at the TIS level? Which role does the mutual influence of institutions in the sense of convergence or conflict play in this regard? How do firms and other organizations at the TIS level act in order to cope with the institutional context? Answers to these questions will improve our theoretical understanding of innovation dynamics, support us in developing a conceptual framework for institutional analysis and also contribute to enhancing the analytical strength of innovation system frameworks. Our institutional analyses can inform policy making with regard to an effective support of (sustainable) innovations and they may also provide insights into the strategic options innovating actors have, e.g. with regard to shaping the institutional context they are operating in.

Empirical work

The empirical work will concentrate on biomass digestion technology, an innovation in the field of renewable energies that has received increasing attention as a means for decentralized electricity generation or methane gas production. The fact that biogas production interacts with different established sectors such as electricity and gas supply, agriculture and (organic) waste disposal makes it a very interesting object to study institutional contexts and how they link up with technological innovation systems. Throughout Europe, moreover, we see quite different rates of biogas diffusion and also different technological designs in different countries. These might be explained - to a certain extent - by differences in institutional context structures and different ways of linking the biogas innovation system in each country to its context.

The project will include analyses at the level of technological innovation systems as well as indepth case studies on selected institutions. Analyses at the system level will be performed for three different countries in order to compare different institutional contexts and technology development (e.g. degree of diffusion, variety of socio-technical configurations, business models). Institutional context changes and innovation dynamics will be studied from an ex-post perspective over a period of 15-20 years. For a more detailed understanding of institutions, their dynamics and mutual influence, about 6-8 cases will be analyzed and compared. Main data sources will be interviews, existing reports and archives (e.g. of newspaper articles or documents of legislation).

Funding

The PhD project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Duration

4/2010 - 3/2013

Tutor

Dr. Jochen Markard
Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
Cirus - Innovation Research in Utility Sectors

Contact

Steffen Wirth
Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology
Cirus - Innovation Research in Utility Sectors