TIS dynamics in technological, sectoral, political and geographical context: lessons for analysts

• This paper takes its departure in the criticism raised against the technological innovation system (TIS) literature in relation to the research field of socio-technical (sustainability) transitions for neglecting interactions between individual technologies and wider societal “contexts”. We first show that TIS studies have always considered various kinds of contextual systems, while also acknowledging that the TIS framework can be further strengthened by a more explicit conceptualization of TIS contexts and TIS-context interaction. We then propose a conceptual framework, which builds on the idea that TIS contexts could be seen as institutionally coherent structures that reside outside of the focal TIS. Four especially important types of context structures are identified and discussed: technological, sectoral, political and geographical. For each of these, we provide example of different ways in which each type of context can interact with a focal TIS and identify new questions that can be answered if analysts take the respective context more explicitly into account in TIS analyses. From the point of view of future research, this paper is a first step towards developing a framework for analyzing the interrelation between TIS dynamics and sectoral change and building a new TIS-based model of socio-technical transitions.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Annan teknik -- Övrig annan teknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Other Engineering and Technologies -- Other Engineering and Technologies not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

technological innovation system

context

interaction

sector

geography

politics

transition

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