Solutions Foresight

Transformative governance of innovation ecosystems

The CEO of IFI, Totti Könnölä publishes with Aalto University professors in a leading research journal ‘Technological Forecasting and Social Change’ a paper on transformative governance of innovation ecosystems.

New lens for policy and management

The framework of transformative governance developed in the paper, offers a powerful new lens for policy and management contexts which are characterised by complexity and uncertainty, both within vertical policies (e.g. research, energy, mobility or health) as much as within more horizontal policies (e.g. entrepreneurship or innovation).

Apart from designing of specific policy measures, the framework can be harnessed for shaping the general conditions of transformative innovation policy and associated governance structures, for instance by overcoming bottlenecks related to both innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Furthermore, it can be used for assessing and designing policy mixes to support the development of innovation ecosystems into desired directions. In fact, we look for new collaborations to apply this framework in policy/management analysis and the design of new measures.

Transformative innovation policy

The paper addresses transformative innovation policy, which has recently emerged at the intersection of innovation and socio-technical transition research. It has provided valuable heuristics to guide policy; but it has also led to the recognition of major challenges in the management of uncertainty and complexity.

Traditional policy responses to control markets have become a source of inertia and a point of vulnerability addressing challenges associated with digital platforms, financial crises and the covid-19 pandemic as well.

In this paper, we address these challenges by linking transformative innovation policy with research perspectives from (i) complex adaptive systems, (ii) ecosystems, and (iii) adaptive and participatory governance. Specifically, we develop a conceptual framework for transformative governance.

Transformative governance

Ecosystems tend to evolve towards excessive concentration of power and techno-institutional lock-ins, on the one hand, or the dissolution of the ecosystem to fragmented and chaotic markets, on the other. To address this challenge, we develop transformative governance.

Transformative governance seeks to improve the adaptiveness and resilience of the ecosystem and orchestrates socio-technical transformation based on the balanced presence of diversity, connectivity, polycentricity, redundancy and directionality.

In effect, the framework help design and assess policy measures which exhibit the desired five features in the three succession stages, thereby fostering more balanced ecosystem development.

Case study on emerging mobility ecosystem

We present an illustrative example by applying the framework to a Finnish policy reform in which the lack of balanced attention to the ecosystem features catalysed major shortcomings in an emerging innovation mobility ecosystem. Finally, we explore the implications for the design of individual policies and policy mixes that arise from the recognition of the complexity and the holistic policy impacts on the ecosystem and society at large.

The paper results from the international Platform Value Now project, funded by Finland’s Strategic Research Council focusing on understanding the fast-emerging platform ecosystems, their value creation dynamics and requirements of the supportive institutional environment.

This paper is available here to download free of charge. For more information contact Totti Könnölä.

Könnölä et al. Transformative governance of innovation ecosystems

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National strategies and roadmaps for international R&I Cooperation

IFI supports the Member States to develop their Strategies and Roadmaps for International Cooperation in Research and Innovation. Totti Könnölä, CEO of IFI, participates in the expert panel of the Policy Support Facility for the European Commission.

Research and innovation are increasingly interlinked internationally, aided by rapidly developing information and communication technologies. Global challenges require global effort and dialogue with international partners. In this context, the aim of the MLE is to foster a policy exchange on the various national approaches towards international cooperation in research and innovation. The exercise allows for comparisons in terms of policy-making and helps identify inspiring novel practices while covering topics such as design and development of national strategies for international cooperation in research and innovation, implementing toolbox, framework conditions and challenge-driven international R&I cooperation.

For more information

Final report

Project website and deliverables

Foresight services to the European Commission

As part of the consortium led by the Austrian Institute of Technology, IFI supports the European Commission by providing “foresight on demand” services in science, technology, research and innovation policy.

DG Research and Innovation has set-up a “Foresight-On-Demand” (FOD) mechanism to respond to the demand for quick inputs to policy-making, drawn on the best available foresight knowledge. FOD is aimed at offering Commission services with timely and effective support related to crisis situations, emerging risks, and policy challenges. The FOD services will include scanning and synthesis of foresight literature and data sources including horizon scanning, rapid foresight data collection and analysis, scenario building, and combinations of the above. Within this framework, IFI is providing foresight support among others to the Mission Boards, European Environmental Agency and the Commission Scientific Advisory Mechanism and SAPEA.

Advise to Andalusia in the industrial transition towards carbon neutrality

The CEO of IFI, Totti Könnölä advises the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in its work to support the Andalusian Government to create industrial transition towards carbon neutrality. Within the frame of the project RIS3 Support to Lagging Regions, the JRC has launched a Working Group on Understanding and Managing Industrial Transitions.

The Working Group aims to support regional (and where appropriate national) authorities facing major industrial transitions, away from declining sectors and activities and charting actionable paths towards employment-intensive economic growth. The Working Group comprises of JRC staff, an Advisory Board and external experts engaged in reviews of industrial transition, coordinated by Ken Guy (Advisory Board Member of IFI).

The core activity of the Working Group are the reviews of industrial transition following a common methodology (POINT, Projecting Opportunities for INdustrial Transition) that draws on expertise on system innovation/transition management, foresight, industrial policy and innovation governance.

The reviews focus on an industrial theme of growing global importance suggested by the relevant territorial authorities (for instance, but not confined to: climate change, electrification of transport, circular economy, digitalisation, artificial intelligence) to collect evidence and examine the scope for developing adequate territorial responses that harness cross-portfolio complementarities (e.g. between ministries and between levels of governance) and cross-stakeholder coordination (e.g. between businesses and broad constituencies of consumers/users). In each territory under review and for an industrial theme suggested by the authorities the final report will:

(a) Map the affected orientation, resource mobilisation, production and consumption systems in the territory;

(b) Document existing planning arrangements and directions of deliberate change (e.g. as described in thematic policy and business strategies, or evident in momentum-gathering social concerns and movements, consumer trends, common territorial values etc.) of various stakeholders in the affected systems that could later form the basis for a broadly-supported transition vision;

(c) Make concrete suggestions for the advancement of the transition and for managing its downsides. Given the nature and magnitude of the transition challenge, adequate territorial responses will include not just research and innovation policies that are already part of RIS3, but also industrial and employment policies more generally, including provisions for education and skills, for complementary large public infrastructures (e.g. in energy, transport, waste), urban planning, fiscal policy and social security reform, among others. Therefore the recommendations of the review will place a particular emphasis on fostering alignment and coordination within government.

The reviews aim to build the evidence base for appropriate “Actions to Manage Industrial Transitions”, as stipulated in fulfilment criterion No.6 of the enabling condition of good governance foreseen in the next multi-annual financing period of the EU Structural Funds (without prejudice to the final decision of the European Commission). The reviews can further inform RIS3 design and implementation (e.g. refining or extending priorities, broadening the EDP, fostering synergies with other funding streams) as well as informing, and been informed by, industrial policies and other territorial strategies for economic and social development. More broadly, it is hoped that the reviews can be an input to a participatory process of stakeholder engagement leading to the development of credible positive visions for the future that can be the source of pride and inspiration for the region (or country) and a rallying point for the mobilisation of actors and resources from all levels.

The JRC plans to complete three such reviews (Andalucía, Bulgaria and Greece) in the current phase of the project in 2020.

For more information

Working Group on Understanding and Managing Industrial Transitions

Foresight: Capture the value in the innovation ecosystem

In response to the new business reality of the world VUCA (comes from the words in English: volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), companies develop their activities, increasingly, in networks of collaborators and develop their own ecosystems to be able to innovate. an agile and connected way. These networks and ecosystems also open opportunities to improve foresight and technological intelligence both to identify and connect new signals and to interpret their relevance.

Technology foresight encompasses tools from automated technological surveillance to online collaboration for strategic management and analysis that enable much more informed decision-making. It also facilitates the innovation process of organizations, in the sense of offering information enriched with aspects that not only come from the domain or domains of the technology itself, but also from external factors such as competition, the environment, etc. This intelligence allows the informed and creative development of new solutions to the market.

Insight Foresight Institute is facing this challenge by offering executive and in-house training programs. The activities are developed in ‘partnership’ with our collaborators and clients, such as:

Foundations
Business schools and universities
Business
Public administrations.

Our approach is to support companies and their experts to develop their intelligence and innovation activities, and make the most of the ecosystem.

Attendants

Managers and managers of development, innovation, information and technology.
All those with interest in the application of technological intelligence in their ecosystem.

Objectives

Eminently practical training program to:

Know the basic elements and usefulness of technological intelligence for digital transformation.
Know and share experiences, how to value the ecosystem through technological tools and knowledge of various actors.
Inform the different actors of innovation ecosystems of the great potential and impact of intelligence tools for decision-making in their organizations.
Develod ideas and creative plans for new solutions to the market.
Plan actions that can be carried out to offer intelligence services in the ecosystem network.

Concept

Seminars (face-to-face classes). Exhibition of theoretical concepts.
Know and pilot the methods and tools.
Online co-creation. Work on the online platform with the tools, case studies and support material, in order to co-create strategic plans.
Personalized and confidential.

As a general rule we recommend 4 modules distributed over 4 weeks. Each module consists of 1 day of classroom (seminar / workshop) of 6 hours, which is accompanied by work activities, both individual and group, supported by online platform (4 hours / module / week).

It is advisable to leave several days between the modules that allow:

Learning through reading and exercises
Involvement of colleagues and organization

We are also flexible to co-design the program to specific circumstances.

Contents

(Week 1) Horizon scanning in the ecosystem. In the first week of the course will be carried out the detection and management of ideas or (early) signs of innovation in the sector in question.

(Week 2) Anticipate in the ecosystem. Using the ideas obtained in the first week, a prospective exercise will be carried out to identify success scenarios, which will be completed with roadmaps of the solutions found for their implementation.

(Week 3) Act in the ecosystem. With the selected solutions, a deep and specific analysis will be carried out to identify markets, partners and final concretion of action plans.

(Week 4) Take to practice. In this session, each participant (organization) will present their results (with the possibility of carrying it out in private tutoring sessions that members of your organization can attend), for the evaluation of their execution.

Participants will have the possibility to hire a follow-up service, after the training, in order to facilitate the development of their solutions and / or intelligence systems.

For more information: info@if-institute.org

Also know about other IFI courses.