Innovation Ecosystems
The transformation towards renewable energy sources is driven by technological innovations. These innovations are materialized by a large number of heterogeneous actors. Each actor provides critical components that are interdependently linked, which is why the different activities across many actors must be coordinated. The innovation ecosystem concept serves as a suitable lens to explore the co-alignment between actors, activities, and technologies.
SusTec investigates the interplay between ecosystem strategies (e.g., alignment structure, business models, governance), policy aspects (push vs. pull), and technology characteristics (e.g., bottlenecks, complexity, and modularity).
Key findings
- Actors can join existing ecosystems in different ways. Our archetype framework provides four strategies, depending on the dimension of the value proposition enhancement and position within the flow of activities among stakeholders (DownloadMiehé et al., 2023).
Ongoing projects
- Research on locus of innovation in system-level transformation towards sustainable power-train technologies. Cases: passenger cars and trucks.
- Research on the implementation of digital technologies to analyze and reduce energy consumption. Case: industrial buildings.
- Research on ecologic and economic potentials of retrofitting heating systems. Case: multi-utility companies.
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