INNOSPACE: Transformative capacities for place-based innovation in Norwegian Innovation Districts

INNOSPACE turns attention to a prominent but under-researched site for innovation in-the-making: Innovation districts. We explore how to build and amplify stronger transformative capacity among key actors in innovation districts in two Norwegian cities: Oslo and Bergen. The starting point for the project is the emergence of transformative, missions-oriented and place-based approaches to innovation. Despite the need to direct innovation policy towards more transformative outcomes, innovation actors and organizations find themselves poorly adapted for the scale and speed of systems change. Transformative capacity is touted as a catalyst for organizational and institutional change but is often disconnected from the practices of societal actors. There is therefore a burning need to generate “how to” knowledge alongside innovation districts that are geared towards systems innovations. INNOSPACE has a fourfold aim: •To develop scientific knowledge that bridges boundaries between science, policy, and society •To co-produce robust forms of innovation through multi-actor, multi-sector collaboration •To scale, amplify, and link activities and actors as a broader network of initiatives within the innovation system, •To generate novelty connected to governance, social learning, and organizational change at a time when such change is sought after, but poorly understood. The project combines fields of research, as well as analytical and design-driven methods as part of a transformative research design. We will 1) map actors, organizations and innovation systems, 2) assess transformative capacity and change agency, and 3) collectively explore how to overcome institutional barriers to change. This research will be carried out alongside innovation districts as project co-designers, with crucial learning from an international advisory panel for societal impact.

INNOSPACE responds to three challenges in bringing innovation policy and research closer to its transformative intents. Firstly, innovation actors and organizations remain poorly equipped for the magnitude and urgency of required sustainability transformations. Secondly, place-based approaches to innovation, such as innovation districts, lack relevant tools and research perspectives to balance scientific excellence and societal impact. Thirdly, transformative capacities are called for, yet remain largely conceptual in their use and therefore disconnected from practice. INNOSPACE responds with a focus on “how to” knowledge – new and combined forms of knowledge for sustainable innovations through practical skills that bridge actor groups. The project proposes a novel frame for jointly investigating transformative capacities in Oslo and Bergen’s innovation districts, and for scaling and learning from results alongside frontrunning academic and practical experts. INNOSPACE combines cutting-edge insights from innovation systems, collaborative governance and transition theories, and contextual experience-based knowledge from innovation district partners. The project adopts a transformative research design built upon deep collaboration with societal partners across real-world innovation cases, interdisciplinary theory building, analytical and design-driven methods, and a learning focus to maximize impact. INNOSPACE is organized around five work packages, beginning with establishing joint value and shared knowledge (WP1), mapping capacities in districts (WP2), investigating change agency of actors and organizations (WP3), exploring institutional capacities (WP4) and synthesizing multi-actor insights for integrated learning (WP5). These work packages deliver robust and relevant insights on how actors, organizations and institutions can make sense of transformative capacity, as well as how such capacities can be fostered within innovation systems.