Why are so few electric cars in our streets today? Why is it difficult to introduce electronic patient records in our hospitals? To answer these questions we need to understand how state and non-state actors interact with the purpose of transforming socio-technical systems. Examining the 'who' (agents), 'how' (policy instruments) and 'why' (societal legitimacy) of the governance process, this book presents a conceptual framework for the governance of change in socio-technical systems. Bridging the gap between disciplinary fields, expert contributions provide innovative empirical cases of different modes of governing change. The Governance of Socio-Technical Systems offers a stepping-stone towards building a theory of governance of change and presents a new research agenda on the interaction between science, technology and society. This book will appeal to scholars in the fields of political science, economics, STS and innovation studies, who are interested in the processes of socio-technical change, their democratic legitimacy, and the governance of grand societal challenges. Contributors: D. Barbera-Tomas, M. Barbier, P. Biegelbauer, S. Borras, A. Daemmrich, A. Delemarle, J. Edler, S. Kuhlmann, P. Laredo, D. Lehner, A. Loconto, J. Molas-Gallart, P. Stegmaier, E. Vignola-Gagne, V.R. Visser

Climate change is causing a geological transition, defining a new era in which the Earth System is configured through human action. The emergence of a global polity through physical, economic and social interaction demands a global response to this phenomenon which cannot be modelled on traditional political and legal concepts centred around the nation-state. This Research Handbook explores the implementation of climate constitutionalism on a global scale, considering both language and substance in order to design adequate normative patterns for addressing climate change. Against the narrative of the Anthropocene and its implications for the law, carefully curated chapters provide a critical approach to global environmental constitutionalism, analysing the problems of sustainability and global equity that are so necessarily intertwined with the causes and consequences of climate change. Recognising the adaptation and mitigation demands implied by climate change, this astute Handbook explores how to develop constitutional discourses and strategies to address these issues, and thereby tackle the negative effects of climate change whilst also advancing a more sustainable, equitable and responsible global society. Timely and engaging, this Research Handbook will prove vital reading for students and scholars of environmental, constitutional and administrative law and policy. Climate change practitioners, policy makers and activists will also find its insights highly informative. Contributors include: S. Atapattu, S. Borras, K. Bosselmann, E. Cocciolo, G.M. Cuadros, E. Daly, P. de Araujo Ayala, B.H. Desai, R.J. Heffron, A. Hornborg, J. Jaria-Manzano, L.J. Kotze, J.R. May, D. McCauley, K. Morrow, M. Powers, J.M. Pureza, B.K. Sidhu, A. Sinden

In the year 2000, in Lisbon, the European Union launched an agenda for growth, jobs, sustainability and competiveness with a ten-year target. In 2010, the agenda was re-launched with different specific objectives but with the same final goals. Why do the European Union leaders engage with these ten-year plans? What exactly do they commit to when they do so? Do they learn from the results, or is this a rhetorical exercise that complex organizations need to raise attention to certain issues?

This volume is the first-ever systematic study of the Lisbon agenda of the European Union, now called Europe 2020. It explains the rise of the Lisbon agenda as governance architectures and examines its components across time and sectors.

This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

This title was first published in 2003.During the 1990s research and technological development policies moved from a 'problem-solving' approach towards a wider one focusing on the systemic nature of the innovation process. This change can be featured as the transition from a technology policy towards an innovation policy. 'Innovation Policies in Europe and the US: The New Agenda' provides a comparative analysis of eleven highly industrialized countries' innovation policies in the 1990s, and addresses the nature, dynamics, causes and effects of this transition. By combining the analytical skills of sociologists, economists and political scientists the book sets up a novel framework for studying the evolution of this particular policy area by examining institutional change from a broader perspective.

This book provides a systematic, comprehensive, and independent comparative study of cluster policies in Europe. It focuses upon one very important relationship that has so far been neglected in the literature, namely, the extent to which the complex dynamics of multi-level governance (MLG) are responding to the problems and challenges faced by clusters, in particular the extent to which MLG learns and supports cluster learning. A range of low-tech (footwear and clothing), medium-tech (furniture and film), and high-tech (automotive and ICT) clusters at different evolutionary stages are studied in Germany, Italy, the UK, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Romania. The book explores their origins and evolution, firm configurations and interactions, knowledge sources, labour markets, levels of internationalisation, and institutional and policy frameworks. Utilising multiple methods that combine quantitative and qualitative data collected face-to-face from senior representatives of some 500 firms and institutions, the authors provide an interdisciplinary analysis and precise policy recommendations at cluster, regional, national, and EU levels. Cluster Policies in Europe will be invaluable for policy makers, advisors and management consultants in Europe and elsewhere. It will also prove essential for students and scholars of international business and management, regional, institutional and industrial economics, political economy, innovation, governance, and European studies.

This title was first published in 2003.During the 1990s research and technological development policies moved from a 'problem-solving' approach towards a wider one focusing on the systemic nature of the innovation process. This change can be featured as the transition from a technology policy towards an innovation policy. 'Innovation Policies in Europe and the US: The New Agenda' provides a comparative analysis of eleven highly industrialized countries' innovation policies in the 1990s, and addresses the nature, dynamics, causes and effects of this transition. By combining the analytical skills of sociologists, economists and political scientists the book sets up a novel framework for studying the evolution of this particular policy area by examining institutional change from a broader perspective.

In its continuing quest for competitiveness in world markets, the EU has recently moved away from a technology policy towards an innovation policy. In other words, from a strategy almost entirely focused on supporting collaborative alliances, the EU now has a broader policy vision which aims to engender a positive institutional environment for European innovators. This fresh policy direction has forced the EU to take a novel approach to understanding the relationship between public action and the innovation process at both the national and European level. Adopting a strong interdisciplinary approach, the author skilfully examines the politics and economics of the new innovation policy of the EU, addressing such diverse topics as research and knowledge production, the changing regime of intellectual property rights, building the information society, standard setting, risk assessment and the social sustainability of innovation. The conclusions pose many theoretical questions which will require further research, most notably the extent to which EU innovation policy underpins a European system of innovation. This book will be an invaluable source of reference for academics and researchers interested in the economics of innovation, EU political economy, science, technology and politics. It will also help policy makers to understand the complex interactions between regional, national and supranational innovation policy.

How do countries create and replicate socio-economic success? This book argues that success comes from how people make sense of their institutions when they are placed under stress. When institutional frameworks are challenged, a range of agents engaged in sensemaking processes that invoke certain identities on 'who we are', contain normative claims about 'how things should be', and involve strategies on 'how to get there'. Sensemaking about the future and the past is crucial to institutional competitiveness and includes prospective and retrospective points of departure, as well as focusing on developing abstract causes of change or replicating success from previous experience. This book brings together a range of world-class scholars from Comparative Political Economy, Institutional Theory, and Organizational Sociology to discuss how sensemaking processes create institutional change. The contributors investigate a range of cases that cover different institutions linked to competitiveness, including labour, public management, think tanks, firms, innovation policies, tax and housing policies, and welfare systems. With a strong focus on the Nordic experience and comparisons with advanced industrialized economies, this volume provides an innovative and original framework for understanding institutional change.

Holistic Innovation Policy puts forward a novel framework for the design and analysis of innovation policy. It provides a theoretically anchored foundation for the design of holistic innovation policy by identifying the core problems that tend to afflict innovations and the activities of innovation systems, including the unintended consequences of policy itself. As most of the current innovation policies focus on few determinants of innovation processes, this is a necessary stepping stone for the identification of viable, relevant, and down-to-earth policy solutions. Rather than presenting a recipe or 'how-to' guide, this book offers a critical analysis of policy instruments and their choice in innovation policy design, and considers the ways in which policy might be providing solutions to problems in systems of innovation. Exploring areas such as knowledge production and R&D, education, training and skills development, demand-side activities, interaction and innovation networks, changing institutions and regulations, and the public financing of early stage innovations, its critical and novel perspective serves policy-makers, scholars, and those interested in the design of innovation policy.