TY - JOUR
T1 - The Roles of the State in the Governance of Socio-technical Systems’ Transformation
AU - Borrás, Susana
AU - Edler, Jakob
PY - 2020/6
Y1 - 2020/6
N2 - The transformative turn of innovation policy has resulted in calls for a more entrepreneurial and directional role of the state. However, the multiple roles that the state might play remains underexplored. This paper studies the embedded role of the state in four distinct modes of governance of socio-technical systems. Using a three-pillar analytical model, the paper examines four illustrative cases: cryptocurrencies, smart cities, automated vehicles, and nuclear power. The paper identifies 13 different roles of the state: observer, warner, mitigator, opportunist, facilitator, lead-user, enabler of societal engagement, gatekeeper, promoter, moderator, initiator, guarantor and watchdog. The conceptualization of these roles serves to understand that the transformative agency of the state is leveraged/constrained by the modes of governance, and that it is also ultimately exercised through specific mixes of roles.
AB - The transformative turn of innovation policy has resulted in calls for a more entrepreneurial and directional role of the state. However, the multiple roles that the state might play remains underexplored. This paper studies the embedded role of the state in four distinct modes of governance of socio-technical systems. Using a three-pillar analytical model, the paper examines four illustrative cases: cryptocurrencies, smart cities, automated vehicles, and nuclear power. The paper identifies 13 different roles of the state: observer, warner, mitigator, opportunist, facilitator, lead-user, enabler of societal engagement, gatekeeper, promoter, moderator, initiator, guarantor and watchdog. The conceptualization of these roles serves to understand that the transformative agency of the state is leveraged/constrained by the modes of governance, and that it is also ultimately exercised through specific mixes of roles.
KW - Transformative
KW - Innovation policy
KW - Transitions
KW - Diffusion
KW - Grand challenges
KW - Governance
KW - Transformative
KW - Innovation policy
KW - Transitions
KW - Diffusion
KW - Grand challenges
KW - Governance
UR - https://sfx-45cbs.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/45cbs?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info:sid/sfxit.com:azlist&sfx.ignore_date_threshold=1&rft.object_id=954921364529&rft.object_portfolio_id=&svc.holdings=yes&svc.fulltext=yes
U2 - 10.1016/j.respol.2020.103971
DO - 10.1016/j.respol.2020.103971
M3 - Journal article
VL - 49
JO - Research Policy
JF - Research Policy
SN - 0048-7333
IS - 5
M1 - 103971
ER -