•The concept of ‘lock-in mechanisms’ is used to analyse transition processes in energy production and road transportation.•The analysis examines nine lock-in mechanisms in four case studies on Nordic ...road transport systems.•Different socio-technical regimes are characterised by different sets of lock-in mechanisms.•Opportunities for upscaling a given niche depend on the specific characteristics of the relevant regime.•The distinction between lock-in mechanisms specifies the ways in which regimes set preconditions for new transition pathways.
This paper revisits the theoretical concepts of lock-in mechanisms to analyse transition processes in energy production and road transportation in the Nordic countries, focussing on three technology platforms: advanced biofuels, e-mobility and hydrogen and fuel cell electrical vehicles. The paper is based on a comparative analysis of case studies.
The main lock-in mechanisms analysed are learning effects, economies of scale, economies of scope, network externalities, informational increasing returns, technological interrelatedness, collective action, institutional learning effects and the differentiation of power.
We show that very different path dependencies have been reinforced by the lock-in mechanisms. Hence, the characteristics of existing regimes set the preconditions for the development of new transition pathways. The incumbent socio-technical regime is not just fossil-based, but may also include mature niches specialised in the exploitation of renewable sources. This implies a need to distinguish between lock-in mechanisms favouring the old fossil-based regime, well-established (mature) renewable energy niches, or new pathways.
The rapidly expanding stream of path development studies recognises that translating observations from past paths to conscious path creation requires conceptually linking agency to path development ...frameworks. Actors frame issues about and for the future, coordinate their actions in the present and make sense of what may have transpired in the past. The main objective of the paper is to explore the roles that actors play in green path development by answering the following main research questions: (a) Who are the core actors in green path development in the Nordic regions, ie. in industrial development around products, solutions or technologies that make regional economies more sustainable? (b) What are their main roles in relation to other actors? (c) What are the differences and similarities between the regions in terms of agency? The paper explores whether similar actors take on different roles in different regions and whether different actors may assume similar roles. For the empirical analysis, we identified seven roles in change agency. The empirical results showed that institutional entrepreneurship was the core of change agency in conjunction with innovative entrepreneurship and place-based leadership. The other four roles supported path development efforts. The results also show that institutional entrepreneurship is not a solo activity but a collective form of agency and that well-functioning shared institutional entrepreneurship may have a chance to change institutions for green path development.
A number of intersecting crises are currently ongoing at multiple scales, including increasing inequality, environmental degradation, and climate destabilization, as well as new surges of populism ...and mounting public health threats. These emergencies question our economic model of past decades and provoke a rethinking of the general approach to economic policy from a multi-scalar perspective. In this article, we compare two approaches aiming to rethink economic development policy: foundational economy and Doughnut economics, and consider if and how they complement each other. We conclude that the two approaches are potentially complementary, most prominently in their call for high-income countries to refocus from growth per se to purpose-driven economic strategies that prioritize public services and redistribute incomes. However, they differ in respect to their geographical focus, environmental concerns, and application. To properly address tradeoffs between social needs and environmental effects, foundational scholarship would benefit from deeper engagement with the socioenvironmental perspective presented in Doughnut economics, which stresses the need to consider human-nature interlinkages. In sum, combining different aspects of the two approaches promises to provide a more robust response to contemporary challenges, especially for local policy making.
The foundational economy approach to economic development suggests that the production of goods and services that are critical to human welfare (e.g., water, energy, education and elderly care) ...should be the central concern for policymaking. This paper examines whether this approach could address three core challenges for regional development: social polarization, interregional inequality and environmental sustainability. It concludes that the foundational economy approach is particularly promising in addressing challenges relating to social polarization, but could benefit from further engagement with alternative theories on innovation, work in political science on policy for improving government quality, and various literatures on environmental sustainability.
The primary purpose of this paper is to call for more research on the competencies needed to promote sustainable urban development. Our premise is that sustainable urban development does not occur ...without transcending differing interests and identifying novel ways to collaborate across organisational and institutional boundaries. Relatedly, sustainable urban development calls for mobilisation and pooling of scattered assets. Therefore, sustainable urban development calls for enhanced competencies that significantly differ from the traditional capabilities valued in public administration. This premise leads us to determine what competencies are needed to support sustainable urban development and to ask how fragmented capabilities can be pooled to serve the common purpose. Sustainable urban development necessitates transformative system change, dependent on diverse stakeholders, relying on many actors’ knowledge and capabilities instead of a few selected actors’ expertise. To achieve a systemic perspective, we need to be able to group the capabilities and competencies; otherwise. We propose a conceptual framework drawing on insights from public administration, management studies, organisation studies, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that might allow us to move from individual capabilities to shared competencies and collective learning processes, thus adding analytical leverage to our efforts to strengthen the competencies embedded in systems but held by individuals. For analytical purposes, we adopt the concept of the competence set. It is geared toward identifying how different capabilities of many actors could be integrated at a systemic level so that a set would serve both the entire urban system and the actors embedded in it.
Facing increasing pressure to decarbonize, innovation within the shipping sector has turned to low-and zero carbon solutions. In this paper we investigate how the development and implementation of ...biodiesel and liquefied biogas (LBG) in Norwegian coastal shipping has been influenced by the technological alignment with fossil fuels. We understand this influence to emanate from the (mis)match of biofuels with the structure of coastal shipping (e.g. infrastructure, knowledge, institutions, actors) which has been shaped by fossil fuels. This way we contribute to the development of Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) framework by discussing the effect of sectoral cross-technology externalities on the functionality of a TIS. Our core data consists of semi-structured interviews, supported by a firm survey with Norwegian shipowners.
Our results show that the technological alignment provides the biodiesel and LBG TISs with several benefits, such as access to established markets and infrastructure, which suggests that Norway to some extent has good conditions for maritime biofuel markets to form. However, two major barriers for implementation of biofuels are fuel availability and cost. Considering the competition with battery-electric and hydrogen solutions, the positive externalities of the interchangeability between fossil and biofuels are insufficient to make biodiesel and LBG competitive contenders for coastal shipping. In order to upscale implementation of biofuels in the Norwegian coastal shipping sector, which is needed to reach national and international emission targets, there is a need for strengthened policy interventions. To establish market formation, subsidies for biofuels and feed-in targets would be crucial policy instruments.
This article examines the case of a Chinese firm that has upgraded to lead firm position in the global biomass power plant industry mainly through acquisitions of technological frontier firms in ...Denmark. Sustaining the lead firm position was, however, challenged by difficulties in developing innovative capability. Drawing on the literature on (i) firm-level technological capability and (ii) knowledge transfer in international acquisitions, we explain the reasons for insufficient innovative capability building. Based on these empirical findings, we suggest maintaining the existing upgrading framework but applying it analytically in a more flexible manner that avoids linearity, hierarchy and segmentation while stressing the co-existence of and inter-relationships between the different types of upgrading.
Hansen T. Substitution or overlap? The relations between geographical and non-spatial proximity dimensions in collaborative innovation projects, Regional Studies. Traditionally, economic geographers ...stress geographical proximity's positive impact on collaboration processes. However, effects of cognitive, organizational, social and institutional proximity dimensions have been emphasized recently. This paper examines the relations between geography and these non-spatial dimensions by distinguishing two mechanisms: the substitution mechanism, where non-spatial forms of proximity substitute for geographical proximity; and the overlap mechanism, where geographical proximity facilitates non-spatial proximity. The two mechanisms' importance is analysed in collaborative innovation projects in the Danish cleantech industry. Regression models are complemented by a qualitative analysis of the relationship between the geographical and institutional dimensions.
The foundational economy perspective suggests that industries, which provide services essential to all citizens’ well-being and participation in everyday life, should be placed centrally in economic ...development policy. This article studies the extent to which local governments put emphasis on foundational industries in their strategies for development. Moreover, drivers behind priority-setting are examined. Based on an analysis of all 98 Danish municipalities’ planning strategies and semi-structured interviews with relevant actors from two rural municipalities, we find that foundational industries are to a great extent emphasised, even if they are not characterised as the foundation for economic development. Rather, foundational industries are prioritised in the absence of other options or when municipalities are not compelled to put local job creation as a crucial focus to attract and maintain inhabitants.
The current European policy agenda strongly accentuates the importance of research and development (R&D) as a driver of economic growth. The basic assumption is that high European wage levels make it ...unlikely that less research-intensive parts of the economy can withstand competition from low-wage countries with increasingly skilled labour forces. Thus, the inferior growth of the European Union (EU) in the 1990s compared with the USA has been explained by the latter’s higher rate of R&D investments. The paper challenges this rather simplistic view of innovation and examines the regional consequences of such policies. EU growth has caught up with that of the USA during recent years and low-tech industries continue to have considerable economic importance in Europe in terms of jobs and value added, especially outside the main growth regions, but also in the major urban regions. Empirical evidence from Denmark and the UK provided in the paper suggests that low- and high-tech industries are closely interconnected because low-tech firms play important roles both as partners in the innovation processes of high-tech firms and as buyers of high-tech products. Therefore, EU industrial policy is not appropriate because it overlooks the continuing significance of low-tech industries. Furthermore, the rather uniform focus on R&D is associated with a strong emphasis on large city-regions where research-intensive industries are concentrated and, thus, increasing regional inequality in Europe is being produced.
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