Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Transition to Sustainability Trajectories: An Activity-Based Conceptual Analytic Framework

Emmanuel D. Adamides ()
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Emmanuel D. Adamides: Department of Mechanical Engineering & Aeronautics, School of Engineering, University of Patras, 26504 Rion, Greece

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 7, 1-23

Abstract: As the road to environmental and social sustainability is tied to large-scale systemic transitions, inevitably, sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship should be considered in their context. In this paper, we investigate how entrepreneurial opportunities develop in trajectories of sectoral transitions to sustainability. We adopt a social practice perspective and, based on insights from sectoral systems of innovation, socio-technical systems and activity theory, we develop an activity-based template/framework to represent sectors and their inherent dynamics in a structured and holistic way. The framework allows for the identification of entrepreneurial opportunities in the contradictions that emerge during transitions in the activities of sectors due to internally developed inconsistencies and/or external interventions. Hence, plausible narratives of the anticipated business futures can be constructed. It also surfaces the role of learning and knowledge creation, i.e., innovation, in resolving contradictions, thus creating value and stirring transitions in the direction of sustainability. The case study of the transition of the automobility sector to sustainability is used to test the framework proposed.

Keywords: sustainability; transitions; (techno)entrepreneurship; innovation; activity theory; socio-technical systems; sectoral analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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