Evolutionary Grounded Innovation Policy
Evolutionary Grounded Innovation Policy

Author(s): Maarten J. Arentsen
Subject(s): Economy, Business Economy / Management, Accounting - Business Administration
Published by: ASERS Publishing
Keywords: innovation; technological change; innovation policy; sustainable growth
Summary/Abstract: Assuming the need of public innovation programs to initiate and to support the emergence of sustainable technologies in the economic system, this chapter argues that an evolutionary conception of technological change and innovation is helpful to design such sustainable innovation policies.Drawing on the conception of innovation suggested by Saviotti (1996), the chapter starts by conceptualizing the core idea innovation and sustainable innovation. Then the chapter discusses the core concepts of the evolutionary framework and analyzes the dynamics of socio-technological change. Hence, it draws on evolutionary economists who have elaborated theories regarding the embedding of innovations in the economic system, and sociologists of technology who suggested a better understanding of the process of so-called co-evolutionary change. Both approaches help identifying the core challenge of evolutionary based innovation policy. The innovation policy itself will be discussed in section 4 of the chapter. The policies draw on two core mechanisms of evolutionary change: diversity and selection. Both mechanisms will be translated in policy instruments. The chapter ends with a concluding section.

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