‘The next generation of innovation policy: Directionality and the role of demand-oriented instruments’—Introduction to the special section

Abstract

This editorial introduces the basic idea and content of the special section "the next generation of innovation policy: Directionality and the role of demand side instruments". It highlights the purpose of the special section, i.e. to spark a new debate about innovation policy against the demands for more directionality of policy intervention and the need for policies to actively contribute to system transitions to confront major societal challenges. It summarises the main contribution of each of the articles in the special section. Countries around the globe have increasingly turned their attention to grand societal challenges like climate change and healthy ageing. Accordingly, challenges dictate (parts of) their innovation policies. Scholars have recognised that challenges cross various sectors, engage diverse sets of actors, and address multiple objectives (Foray et al. 2012; Kuhlmann and Rip 2014). Such complexity calls for a systemic approach. In such a systemic context, an important dimension of designing challenge-oriented innovation policies forms the articulation of demands and markets, which dictate for a large part the direction policies will take. This special section brings together various strands of current policy thinking and practice that share an orientation towards direc-tionality of innovation, embracing the idea that beyond supporting the conditions and practices on the supply side to innovate more and faster, policies to support the generation and diffusion of innovation needs to be oriented towards responding to societal needs and demands. As yet, these demand-and solution-oriented strands of policy thinking and practice have not been interacting sufficiently, both conceptually and in terms of policy practice. The special section seeks to spark a new debate on the meaning of and conditions for policy to support directionality of innovation. In doing so, the special section focuses on the role of demand-oriented measures to support directional innovation policy, be it in generic innovation policy, in sectoral policy or in mission-oriented policy which cuts across policy areas. The collection of the six papers in this special section offers new ways of conceptualising policies in support of the generation and application of innovation which are of immediate usefulness to solve societal problems. As the focus is on problem-solving and societal benefits of innovation, all papers take societal need and the actual use of innovation as the starting point. The papers in the special section offer a wealth of concrete empirical illustrations across a wide range of societal areas and at different levels of government. Our own paper in this special section (Boon and Edler, this volume) develops a conceptual framework to make sense of the variety of directionality policies. We first conceptualise demand and need, highlight different forms of demand articulation, and then go on to elaborate on the three ideal-typical policies that relate to demand and directionality: traditional innovation policy, sector-specific policy and challenge-oriented policy. The three ideal types are then discussed focusing on output legitimacy, input legitimacy, and operational requirements. This discussion highlights the specific challenges and opportunities of demand-and directionality-oriented innovation policies and allows to derive a set of recommendations to increase the effectiveness of such policies. The paper by Stefan Kuhlmann and Arie Rip (this volume) first discusses the characteristics that set grand societal challenges apart from other policy categories, especially emphasising the open-ended nature of challenges and the involvement of a wide array of stake-holders. Dealing with challenges thus requires governments to V C The Author(s)