Contemporary Innovation Policy and Instruments: Challenges and Implications

In this paper we review major theoretical (neoclassical economics, evolutionary, systemic and knowledge-based) insights about innovation and we analyse their implications for the characteristics of contemporary innovation policy and instruments. We show that the perspectives complement each other but altogether reveal the need to redefine the current general philosophy as well as the modes of operationalisation of contemporary innovation policy. We argue that systemic instruments ensuring proper organisation of innovation systems give a promise of increased rates and desired (more sustainable) direction of innovation.systemic instruments, innovation policy, innovation theory, policy mix, innovation system, sustainability

Фактор страху в ранньомодерних теоріях держави: проект Томаса Гоббса

Стаття присвячена висвітленню трансформаційних форм та місця феномену страху в політичній теорії Т. Гоббса, значення страху в принципах державного суверенітету.Статья посвящена исследованию трансформационных форм и места феномена страха в политической теории Т. Гоббса, его значение в принципе государственного суверенитета.The article is devoted to research the transformation forms and place of the phenomenon of fear in the political theory of Thomas Hobbs, its value in the principle of state sovereignty

Blending in, to transform the regime from within:Niche hybridisation strategies of Irish energy communities

This study aimed to get a better and more nuanced understanding of niche strategies in practice. Niche hybridisation strategies were conceptualised in relation to the three core dimensions of socio-technical systems (institutions, actors, and technology). This conceptualisation was applied to the case of Community Power (CP). CP is a community-owned supply company that combines elements of cooperative and commercial organisations, which are favoured by the community energy (niche) and commercial (regime) logics. CP was set up to enable energy communities to sell energy to their members and on electricity markets. As such, CP protected energy communities from market pressures, which allowed them to blend in and become more competitive within an unchanged selection environment. By stimulating wider diffusion of the community energy logic, CP passively stretched the regime. CP also actively stretched the regime by engaging in institutional entrepreneurship, to make it more favourable towards community energy.This study aimed to get a better and more nuanced understanding of niche strategies in practice. Niche hybridisation strategies were conceptualised in relation to the three core dimensions of socio-technical systems (institutions, actors, and technology). This conceptualisation was applied to the case of Community Power (CP). CP is a community-owned supply company that combines elements of cooperative and commercial organisations, favoured by the community energy (niche) and commercial (regime) logics. CP was set up to enable energy communities to sell energy to their members and on electricity markets. As such, CP protected energy communities from market pressures, which allowed them to blend in and become more competitive within an unchanged selection environment. By stimulating wider diffusion of the community energy logic, CP attempted to passively stretch the regime. CP also tried to actively stretch the regime by engaging in institutional entrepreneurship, to make it more favourable towards community energy

A Systemic Assessment of the European Offshore Wind Innovation: Insights from the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom

The development and diffusion of offshore wind energy technology is important for European energy policy. However, the large potential does not automatically lead to a large share in future energy systems; neither does an emergent stage of technological development automatically lead to success for companies and the related economic growth and growth in employment. Recent insights in innovation studies suggest that the success chances of technological innovations are, to a large extent, determined by how the surrounding system (the innovation system) is built up and how it functions. Many innovation systems are characterized by flaws that hamper the development and diffusion of innovations. These flaws are often labelled as system problems or system challenges. Intelligent innovation policy therefore evaluates how innovation systems are functioning, tries to create insight into the systems’ challenges and develops policies accordingly. This report assesses the European offshore wind innovation system based on insights from four countries: Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. We use the Technological Innovation System (TIS) approach to analyse the state and functioning of the system at the end of 2011. Based on the analysis we identify four types of systemic challenges: (i) actor-related such as deficiency of engineers; (ii) institutional, e.g. non-aligned national regulatory frameworks; (iii) interaction-related like poor transferability of scientific knowledge to specific contexts of application and; (iv) infrastructural such as poor grid infrastructure. We suggest the challenges require a systemic, coordinated policy effort at a European level if the system is expected to contribute to the goals of climate change reduction and stimulation of green growth.JRC.F.6-Energy systems evaluatio

Neoproterozoic crystalline exotic clasts in the Polish Outer Carpathian flysch: remnants of the Proto‑Carpathian continent?

Crystalline exotic boulders within the sedimentary sequences of the Outer Carpathians likely represent Proto-Carpathian basement, which was exposed and eroded during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic evolution of the Western Carpathian basin. The majority of the boulders were derived from the Silesian Ridge, which separated the Magura Basin and the Silesian Domains, and which became a source region during Late Cretaceous–Early Paleocene tectonism. Felsic crystalline clasts within the Silesian Nappe yield U–Pb zircon magmatic protolith ages of 603.7 ± 3.8 Ma and 617.5 ± 5.2 Ma while felsic crystalline clasts within the Subsilesian Nappe yield an age of 565.9 ± 3.1 Ma and thus represent different magmatic cycles. The U–Pb zircon data also imply that the Silesian Ridge was a fragment of the eastern part of the Brunovistulia microcontinent. The presence of inherited zircon cores, dated at 1.3 and 1.7 Ga, suggests a Baltican source for the clasts, as opposed to Gondwana. We infer that Late Neoproterozoic felsic magmatism within the Proto-Carpathian continent represents a long-living magmatic arc, which formed during prolonged Timmanian/Baikalian rather than Pan-African/Cadomian orogenesis. Mafic exotic blocks, found within the Magura Nappe, yield U–Pb zircon ages of 613.3 ± 2.6 Ma and 614.6 ± 2.5 Ma and likely represent a fragment of an obducted ophiolitic sequence. The protolith of these mafic boulders could represent Paleoasian Ocean floor located to the east of Cadomia, obducted during later orogenic processes and incorporated into the accretionary prism. All analysed exotic clasts show no evidence for younger (Variscan) reworking, which is characteristic of both western Brunovistulia and the Central Western Carpathians and the Cadomian elements of Western Europe. The Silesian and Subsilesian basins thus had a likely source area in the eastern part of Brunovistulia, while the source of the Magura Basin was the Fore-Magura Ridge, whose basement potentially represents an accretionary prism on the margin of the East European Craton