Innovation policy as an instrument for driving transformation : lessons from practice
(2026) p.108-128- Abstract
In recent years, countries, regions, municipalities and the EU Commission have introduced a significant number of innovation policy initiatives under the banner of ‘missions’, ‘societal challenges’, sustainability, and ‘transformation’, or systemic change. In parallel, there has been a rapidly growing body of literature seeking to analyze or assess these real-world manifestations of attempts to pivot innovation policy towards environmental and societal challenges. The aim of this chapter is to provide a reflexive overview of state of the art of the knowledge on transformative innovation policy design and implementation. To contribute real-world, real-time learning for planned or ongoing policymaking, the authors also synthesize lessons... (More)
In recent years, countries, regions, municipalities and the EU Commission have introduced a significant number of innovation policy initiatives under the banner of ‘missions’, ‘societal challenges’, sustainability, and ‘transformation’, or systemic change. In parallel, there has been a rapidly growing body of literature seeking to analyze or assess these real-world manifestations of attempts to pivot innovation policy towards environmental and societal challenges. The aim of this chapter is to provide a reflexive overview of state of the art of the knowledge on transformative innovation policy design and implementation. To contribute real-world, real-time learning for planned or ongoing policymaking, the authors also synthesize lessons and insights from recent policy initiatives in Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands, with the purpose of distilling them into policy-relevant observations. Based on these, they draw conclusions on what recent experiences from trying to design and implement transformative innovation policies in the respective national and institutional contexts tell us about the role of innovation policy, and implicitly, the role of the state, in driving transformation.
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- author
- Avdeitchikova, Sofia LU and Serger, Sylvia Schwaag LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-01-01
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Innovation Policy, Missions, Public Policy, Societal Challenges, Transformation
- host publication
- The New Role of the State for Transformative Innovation : An International Research Handbook - An International Research Handbook
- pages
- 21 pages
- publisher
- Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105033981556
- ISBN
- 9781839100253
- 9781839100260
- DOI
- 10.4337/9781839100260.00013
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © Uwe Cantner, Dirk Fornahl and Stefan Kuhlmann 2026. All rights reserved.
- id
- c2e412f8-cd28-446c-af88-2eb48d007b79
- date added to LUP
- 2026-05-26 15:02:30
- date last changed
- 2026-09-17 06:00:42
@inbook{c2e412f8-cd28-446c-af88-2eb48d007b79,
abstract = {{<p>In recent years, countries, regions, municipalities and the EU Commission have introduced a significant number of innovation policy initiatives under the banner of ‘missions’, ‘societal challenges’, sustainability, and ‘transformation’, or systemic change. In parallel, there has been a rapidly growing body of literature seeking to analyze or assess these real-world manifestations of attempts to pivot innovation policy towards environmental and societal challenges. The aim of this chapter is to provide a reflexive overview of state of the art of the knowledge on transformative innovation policy design and implementation. To contribute real-world, real-time learning for planned or ongoing policymaking, the authors also synthesize lessons and insights from recent policy initiatives in Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands, with the purpose of distilling them into policy-relevant observations. Based on these, they draw conclusions on what recent experiences from trying to design and implement transformative innovation policies in the respective national and institutional contexts tell us about the role of innovation policy, and implicitly, the role of the state, in driving transformation.</p>}},
author = {{Avdeitchikova, Sofia and Serger, Sylvia Schwaag}},
booktitle = {{The New Role of the State for Transformative Innovation : An International Research Handbook}},
isbn = {{9781839100253}},
keywords = {{Innovation Policy; Missions; Public Policy; Societal Challenges; Transformation}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{01}},
pages = {{108--128}},
publisher = {{Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.}},
title = {{Innovation policy as an instrument for driving transformation : lessons from practice}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781839100260.00013}},
doi = {{10.4337/9781839100260.00013}},
year = {{2026}},
}