Journal
SCIENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY
Volume 46, Issue 1, Pages 55-70Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/scipol/scy037
Keywords
technological innovation system; system weakness; uncertainty; complexity; equivocality; ambiguity
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Funding
- Swedish Research Council Formas
- Swedish Energy Agency
- Bio4Energy research environment, Vinnova (the 'Forest Chemistry' program)
- Chalmers Energy Initiative (CEI)
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The literature on technological innovation systems (TIS) provides policymakers and other actors with a scheme of analysis to identify system weaknesses. In doing so, TIS analysis centres on which system weaknesses policy interventions should target to promote further development of a particular system. However, prior TIS literature has not sufficiently elaborated on what may constitute the conceptual roots of a 'weakness'. We apply a knowledge-based perspective and propose that many-albeit not all-system weaknesses may root in four types of knowledge problems: uncertainty, complexity, equivocality, and ambiguity. Employing these as sensitizing concepts, we study system weaknesses by analysing data from a biorefinery TIS in Sweden. This analysis results in novel implications for the TIS literature and for achieving a better match between system weaknesses and the design of innovation policies.
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