Organizing transformative innovation: Advancing an organizational research agenda within Transformative Innovation Policy

Jane Bjørn Vedel, Jacob Hasselbalch, Susana Borrás, Alan Irwin and Vera Simoneit

Research Policy, 2025, vol. 54, issue 9

Abstract: In a world increasingly shaped by geopolitical divides, technological disruption, and the climate crisis, Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) is more essential than ever. However, the TIP research field holds considerable potential to move beyond its current state of the art by incorporating a more sophisticated organizational perspective. This paper responds to a recent call for new analytical tools in TIP by proposing that valuable insights can be drawn from Organization Theory (OT) scholarship. By reviewing and categorizing recent OT research on transformative innovation, we show how engagement with this literature can yield novel insights within key TIP gap areas and beyond. In particular, recent OT work on emotions, social movements, and temporality offers promising opportunities to deepen TIP's understanding of capabilities, experimentation, and the systemic impact of policy interventions. More broadly, this paper contributes to TIP debates by advocating for stronger cross-pollination with OT to enhance the field's theoretical foundation and practical relevance. We conclude that closer interaction between OT and TIP can enable more effective approaches to transformative innovation.

Keywords: Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP); Organization Theory (OT); Grand challenges; Climate change; Policy implications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733325001210
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:respol:v:54:y:2025:i:9:s0048733325001210

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2025.105292

Access Statistics for this article

Research Policy is currently edited by Anna Bergek, PhD, Alex Coad, PhD, Maryann Feldman, Elisa Giuliani, Adam B. Jaffe, Martin Kenney, Keun Lee, PhD, Ben Martin, MA, MSc, Kazuyuki Motohashi, Paul Nightingale, Ammon Salter, Maria Savona, Reinhilde Veugelers and John Walsh

More articles in Research Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().