Combining a deep transition framework and human capability approach to reimagine innovation and development

Johan Schot and Diana Velasco

Chapter 3 in A Research Agenda for Innovation and Development, 2026, pp 38-50 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter examines the historical and conceptual relationship between innovation and development through two complementary lenses: the Deep Transitions (DT) framework and the Human Capability Approach (HCA). The section Rethinking Innovation, traces how the First Deep Transition aligned multiple socio-technical systems under industrial modernity, embedding extractivist meta-regimes and colonial power structures. It critiques dominant innovation models as techno-optimistic and apolitical, contrasting them with alternative movements such as appropriate technology and transformative innovation. The section Rethinking Development and Its Measurement, interrogates growth-centric paradigms and explores multidimensional metrics, highlighting Sen's capability approach and its evolution into human development indices. In the concluding section, Outlook for a Transformative Innovation and Development Model, we propose integrating DT and HCA to guide a Second Deep Transition. This convergence offers a systemic theory of change and evaluative tools for plural, inclusive, and ecologically grounded pathways towards just and sustainable futures.

Keywords: Deep Transitions; Industrial Modernity; Human Capability Approach; Sustainable Development; Transformative Innovation; Directionality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035344338
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