Technology, Innovation and Sustainability Hopes for a Green Revolution? Fred Steward Director: ESRC Sustainable Technologies Programme
Tony Blair - November 2004 we need a green technological revolution
David Cameron - April 2006 I want to lead a new green revolution that brings forward the best technology
The peculiarities of this mainstream discourse of green revolution Seems strangely at odds with the political battle for the centre ground But maybe revolution is OK, if it is confined to technology Anyway, reassuringly it confirms the political salience of our ESRC research programme
3m social science research programme 2002-2006 20 universities 50 researchers www.sustainabletechnologies.ac.uk
The intersection of two long standing ESRC research strands Environment Innovation
Sustainable Technologies Programme: Objectives Explicit To identify & explain the social and economic forces that shape, foster or inhibit sustainable technologies To evaluate policy options & influence policy to promote major improvements to resource productivity [Implicit] [Can we reconcile the broad societal objectives of sustainability & competitiveness?] [Is green growth a viable strategy?]
Two proposals arising from the research programme Technological revolution The idea that revolutionary change in technology is needed to address the global issue of environmental sustainability is right Social transformation The notion that radical technological innovation is separate from, or a comfortable alternative to, social transformation is wrong
The limits of incrementalism Greening of technology incrementalism does deliver but The constraints of the win-win enterprise level paradigm Relative improvements in resource use & pollution impact eg: household appliances, cars, aeroplanes Yet, environmental impact of household and personal transport continue to increase - the rebound effect
Diverse routes to green innovation & competitive success Biodegradeable pyrethroid insecticides 20% of global market Wind turbines 36% global market Aquabase water based paints Global leader
The social dimension of innovation The interactional vs pipeline model of innovation Coupling of technological and market opportunities The lingering death of technology push User driven models of innovation The entrepreneur Disruptive models of innovation
Technological determinism Emerging bio & nano technologies will deliver sustainability Key policy issue is research investment in new emerging technologies The knowledge economy/ sustainable society virtuous circle Relies on technology push model
Ecological modernisation Emerging technologies are more sustainable Upstream support is main policy concern Consumption downplayed
The paradox of digital dematerialisation The microchip The paperless office Pake 1975 The electronic cottage Alvin Toffler 1981 The World Wide Web Being digital Negroponte 1996 The death of distance Cairncross 1997 The weightless economy Quah 1996 The last book Jacobson 1997
World paper consumption
Social determinism Change will only result from social crisis Crises requires social interpretation sewage in the Thames: air pollution from smoke Societal collapse if interpretation fails A covert discourse?
A new socio-technical terrain Beyond technology push or social crisis Consumption and production forced to confront each other Multiple arenas of innovation and stakeholder engagement
Theme 1 Consumption as social practice Theories of consumption (Jackson) Social embeddedness of the consumer Kitchens & bathrooms (Southerton/Shove) Materiality and discourse in social practice Food systems (Green/ Flynn) frozen pea, chicken, chips network analysis of consumption/production systems & alternative trajectories for stakeholders
Theme 2 Innovation systems & governance National innovation systems (Winskel) Scotland & wave power; (Toke) wind & planning Local systems (Frederickson) waste recycling, (Walker) community energy schemes Policy on sustainable innovation (Pearson/Foxon) systemic reorientation of policy Sociotechnical systems Governance of transitions (Smith, Berkhout)
Theme 3: Emerging technology & sustainable transitions Nanotechnology (McNaghten/Wilsdon) upstream engagement Fuel cells (Hendry) entrepreneurs & incumbents Appropriate technology (Smith) ecological entrepreneurs Microgeneration (Watson) disruptive network change Dematerialisation of the paper text (Steward) networks & discourse in contestation between radical technologies gm trees vs the electronic book
Issues Consumers to be involved in innovation Multiple social sites influencing innovation Policies relevant to early phases of transition
Challenges for research and practice The dynamics of transformative decoupling innovation Systemic in nature Takes several decades Embraces social as well as technological innovation Diversity of actors
The limits of the greening of technology paradigm Incrementalism Path dependence/lock in Narrow technological definition of innovation
The specialness of revolutionary innovation Discontinuity Crucial importance for global competitiveness of disruptive, radical innovation Decoupling Critical need for global sustainability to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation Distributedness Systemic change in production & consumption
System innovations & technology transitions Focus on system innovation in contrast to either General socioeconomic change eg Freeman technoeconomic paradigm Or Specific new technological artefacts eg management literature on green products
Contrasted framings of innovation and entrepreneurship System focus Sociotechnical transitions Management of innovation Enterprise focus
Contrasts in innovation models Traditional Transitional Ego centred network The business enterprise Incremental Years Competitiveness Sociocentred network Sociotechnical system Radical Decades Sustainability
The merits of the transition approach Conceptualises innovation in relation to a prevailing domain of sociotechnical practice in contrast to technologies or sectors Embraces the complexity of a system and a diversity of actors Focuses on radical reconfigurations over periods of several decades Recognises wider range of reconfiguration in addition to substitution
A useful reframing Retrospective studies suggest that we can break out of lock in A new shared problem focus Theoretical plurality Challenge to move from the retrospective to the prospective
The building blocks of transition theory Systemic innovation Dominant regime Evolutionary economics meets constructionist sociology Niches & networks strategic niche management Scenarios & expectations - backcasting
Networks of transition
The multilevel approach
Emphasis on niche as source of novelty
Organisational actors in transitions Niche actors (Kemp, Geels) Path creators (Garud & Karnoe) Disruptive innovators (Christensen) Yet emphasis on evolutionary institutionalism
A new consensus Diversity of transition paths Multiplicity of levels
Policy needs A social equivalent of the coupling role in management of innovation New arenas bringing together upstream & downstream stakeholders Boundary spanning intermediaries
Current European context Need to resolve conflict between competitiveness (Lisbon) & sustainability (Gothenburg) agendas Investment in technology & appropriate regulations, important but not the whole story New focus on business and entrepreneurship capabilities for eco-innovation (Green papers on innovation & entrepreneurship) ETAP, IHDP, UNEP
Future orientation Green foresight? Not technocratic prediction but creation of dialogue about the future Acceptance of uncertainty and contestation Business as stakeholder More synergy between DTI & DEFRA Turn the revolutionary rhetoric plus research insight into radical policy innovation