The central idea of this paper is that innovation systems are a very important determinant of technological change. We describe that the emergence of a new innovation system and changes in existing innovation systems co-evolve with the process of technological change. Therefore, it is necessary to create more insight in the dynamics of innovation systems. Traditional methods of innovation system analysis that mainly focus on the structure of innovation systems have proven to be insufficient. Therefore, we propose a framework that focuses on a number of processes that are highly important for well performing innovation systems. These processes are labeled as “functions of innovation systems”. After explaining this framework and embedding it in existing literature, we propose a method for systematically mapping those processes taking place in innovation systems and resulting in technological change. This method can be characterized as a process analysis or history event analysis. Clarifying examples are taken from the empirical field of Sustainable Technology Development

Understanding the emergence of innovation systems is recently put central in research analysing the process of technological change. Especially the key activities that are important for the build up of an innovation system receive much attention. These are labelled 'functions of innovation systems'. This paper builds on five empirical studies, related to renewable energy technologies, to test whether the functions of innovation systems framework is a valid framework to analyse processes of technological change. We test the claim that a specific set of functions is suitable. We also test the claim made in previous publications that the interactions between system functions accelerate innovation system emergence and growth. Both claims are confirmed.

In this paper we present a literature review of studies that have analysed the troublesome trajectory of different renewable energy technologies (RETs) development and diffusion in different, mainly European countries. We present an overview of typical systemic problems in the development of innovation systems around RETs. We make use of the literature on innovation system failures to develop a categorisation of typical systemic problems that hamper the development and diffusion of RETs. Based on this categorisation the paper suggests several policy recommendations to overcome the systemic problems and accelerate the diffusion and implementation of RETs.

a b s t r a c tEven though much attention has been given to barriers related to implementing circular business models, so far, no studies have focused on how the barriers differ between business models. Ignoring the possibility of such differences could lead to unjustified generalizations about the barriers to implementing circular business models (CBMs). We identified barriers to implementation and compared them for different CBMs by analyzing 43 case studies of CBMs, based on in-depth interviews with 31 Dutch firms. Barriers were analyzed for the following CBMs: circular supplies, resource recovery, product life extension, and the product-as-a-service model. The barriers identified were classified into two broad categories: internal problems related to the firm itself and external barriers related to the firm's environment. This study shows that key challenges were related to the firm's external environment, and that the barriers differed between the four business models studied. Whereas most internal barriers encountered by the product-as-a-service model were to do with organization (for instance, of lease models), the other models reported these barriers less frequently. External supply chain issues were challenging in the resource recovery, product life extension, and circular supplies models, mainly because of great dependence on third parties for the input of discarded products and waste materials. We investigated the strategies firms used to overcome these barriers. From our findings we conclude that to stimulate the development of circular businesses, firms and policy makers should focus on bespoke solutions and strategies for different types of CBMs.

This research aims to identify the institutional strategies of incumbent firms with regard to sustainable energy innovations that threaten their interests. This exploratory study contributes to the multi-level perspective by providing new insights into niche-regime interaction. The focus on actor behavior in transitions is informed by literature from institutional theory and strategic management. Based on semi-structured interviews with actors and on documents related to LED lighting and biofuels in the Netherlands, this study identified a preliminary set of empirical strategies: providing information and arguments to policy makers and the general public, as well as strategically setting technical standards. Incumbents are in a position to significantly influence the innovation's development by employing these strategies; thus temporarily keeping sustainable innovation on a leash. 1Within the spectrum of light that is visible to the human eye, mesopic light has a shorter wavelength than traditional light sources.