Combining Knowledge Bases in Transnational Sustainability Innovation: Microdynamics and Institutional Change

Simone Strambach

Economic Geography, 2017, vol. 93, issue 5, 500-526

Abstract: In response to complex and pressing environmental and social problems, sustainability innovations that have the potential to contribute to long-term socio-ecological transformations, have become increasingly important. However, these innovations seem to differ distinctively from recognized technological and economic forms of innovation by their formation and scaling processes, actor constellations, and the complexity of knowledge combination. Due to cognitive and institutional diversity in the development of sustainability innovation, combining knowledge bases transnationally is considerably challenging. This article illustrates such a case of knowledge bases combination by a comparative institutional analysis and innovation biographies of German-Chinese innovation projects in the green building sector. To grasp the largely underexplored dynamics of territorial and relational geographies in transnational sustainability innovation, this article places micro-dynamics and their institutional foundation center stage. Conceptually, recent evolutionary institutional geography approaches and knowledge-based theories are linked with the aim of contributing to both the geography of sustainability transitions and the ongoing debate in evolutionary economic geography. Thereby a deeper exploration of path dynamics and a more profound integration of agency and institutional changes is made possible.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1080/00130095.2017.1366268

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