Cranking up the ‘motors of innovation’ for sustainable energy development
17 March 2009
Governments should not just promote a few new technologies, but also help to build up a complete innovation system with a range of organisations and a variety of policy instruments. This is the only way to bring a sustainable energy system within reach. So says Roald Suurs, a Dutch innovation researcher who studied the development and implementation of alternative fuel technologies in the Netherlands.
Suurs discovered that the development of emerging sustainable energy technologies depends on what he calls ‘virtuous cycles’. Here is an example: imagine that a scientist applies for a grant for a specific piece of research. He wins the grant, undertakes the research and the results provide encouraging prospects for follow-up research. At this point it has become easier for this researcher, and also for other scientists, to apply for and be awarded a grant. This type of circular process emerges because different types of activity, which are called ‘system functions’ in innovation theory at Utrecht University, reinforce each other. System functions should be thought of as conditions that have to be met in order to facilitate successful innovation. These include, for example, ‘the development of knowledge’ and ‘the dissemination of this knowledge’. If the innovation system is working properly, the result, according to Suurs, is a range of ‘motors of innovation’.
Pointers for policy makers
The researcher concludes that the presence of a motor of innovation means that a technology is more likely to be implemented properly. It is also possible to use the innovation system theory to identify barriers which obstruct the creation of these motors, and therefore innovation. Some of the barriers he discovered to the introduction of alternative fuel technologies included the absence of fiscal measures to encourage the development of a market, or the absence of properly organised (political) organisations of entrepreneurs.
One of his important conclusions is that there are weak as well as strong motors of innovation. Strong motors are present in developed innovation systems, i.e. with a technology that already works, a well-organised field of actors and a clear demand from the market. For emerging innovation systems it is important to understand that the system has to be started up by weak motors, before strong motors can take over. By identifying more clearly which motors of innovation actually exist, and which obstacles might arise during the development of emerging technologies, policy makers can take more appropriately focused action to ensure the success of sustainable technology.
Roald Suurs’ doctoral research was funded by the NWO/SenterNovem Energy Research Stimulation Programme. The programme’s aims include the development of knowledge within the natural sciences and the humanities for the transition to a sustainable provision of energy.
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For more information, please contact
- Ronald Suurs (Utrecht University)
- r.suurs@geo.uu.nl
- The doctoral thesis will be defended on 27 March 2009.
- supervisors: prof.dr. M.P. Hekkert, prof.dr.ir. R.E.H.M. Smits en prof. dr. S. Jacobsson
