27: Beyond inclusive, green, and egalitarian: The conflictuality of innovation policy (Jakob Kofler, Lukas Fuchs, Andrew Stirling)
Innovation does not merely have a rate, but also a direction (Stirling 2009). While there is a diversity of conceptualisations of the idea of a ‘direction of innovation’, the concept gestures towards its qualitative and normative dimensions. Advocates of ambitious innovation policy programmes — be they mission-oriented (Mazzucato 2018) or transformative (Schot & Steinmueller 2018) — argue that they must change the direction of innovative and inventive activity. Innovation must be steered in the inclusive, green, egalitarian direction.
However, recently scholars (Arora & Stirling, 2023) have called to question whether such a direction that satisfies all these normative concerns brought forward actually exists; or whether innovation policy is an intrinsically contentious and conflictual area. While there are examples where the tensions between some values have been analysed (most notably the conflict between sustainability and the least well-off in Germany’s Energiewende) (Bosch, S., & Schmidt, 2020), there is little systematic engagement with the non-ideal, conflictual nature of innovation discourse, policy, administration, and practice. The track invites full and early-stage research papers conducting conceptual or empirical analyses into such value tensions in the pursuit of science, technology, and innovation policy. Presentations may tackle questions such as:
1. What value tensions can be identified in STI policy? Are they fundamental, irreconcilable, and necessary?
2. How may sustainability and (short-run) human welfare conflict and how can these tensions be addressed?
3. How may the inclusiveness and effectiveness of STI policies conflict and how can these tensions be addressed?
4. How do we need to rethink the policy-making process to resolve value conflicts and legitimise policies?
5. How may other values point to the pursuit of alternative innovation pathways?
6. How to value conflicts materialise in public policy, public administration, and other organisations?
7. How can value tensions be communicated, addressed, negotiated, or overcome?
Keywords: directionality, conflict, values, innovation policy, transition pathways