Transformative Innovation

Andreas Novy (), Nathaniel Barlow () and Julia Frankhauser

No 01/2022, SRE-Discussion Papers from WU Vienna University of Economics and Business

Abstract: This article scrutinizes the potential of transformative innovations to contribute to social-ecological transformations. It problematizes the positive connotation linked to innovations in tackling contemporary social and environmental challenges by giving an overview of theories of innovation, with a focus on social innovations, and systematizing the multiple meanings of the term transformation. We define transformative innovations as innovations that contribute to those transformations that are desirable and feasible in a specific conjuncture. Desirable are innovations that enable a good life for all within planetary boundaries, feasible are those that can be implemented here and now, given specific constellations of actors, power relations and structural constraints and possibilities. Furthermore, we describe the current conjuncture, dwell on collective and political actions and explore one promising transformative innovation: creating and strengthening sustainable and inclusive provisioning systems, that are feasible in the short term and effective in the long-term.

Keywords: social-ecological transformation; transformative innovation; social innovation; critical realism; provision systems; foundational economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env and nep-hme
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://epub.wu.ac.at/8576/ original version (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden (https://epub.wu.ac.at/8576/ [308 PERMANENT REDIRECT]--> https://epub.wu.ac.at/id/eprint/8576 [302 FOUND]--> https://research.wu.ac.at/en/publications/2ca81ab2-9a18-4289-8368-b920e5f188bf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wiw:wus009:8576

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SRE-Discussion Papers from WU Vienna University of Economics and Business Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna, Austria.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by WU Library ().