IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/290419.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Kairos in Innovation Policy: Theoretical Background and Practical Implications for the Triple Helix

Author

Listed:
  • Rothgang, Michael
  • Lageman, Bernhard

Abstract

A kairos constellation designates a temporarily existing opportunity for a group of actors to take advantage of a coincidence of favourable circumstances in order to realise a shared target. Starting from the observation that kairos constellations are ubiquitous in human individual and social life, the research question of this paper is how the Triple Helix and the wider innovation policy research literature deals with such constellations. The authors develop a conceptual framework for kairos constellations and discuss empirical evidence that kairos constellations have been scrutinized in innovation research literature. Then, the concept is applied to an example from the Triple Helix – based cluster policy. The key message of this paper is that Triple Helix researchers should systematically study kairos constellations because they are a critical force in the evolution of innovations systems as well as business firms, which has not yet been systematically examined.

Suggested Citation

  • Rothgang, Michael & Lageman, Bernhard, 2021. "Kairos in Innovation Policy: Theoretical Background and Practical Implications for the Triple Helix," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 8(2), pages 231-281.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:290419
    DOI: 10.1163/21971927-bja10018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/290419/1/Rothgang-2021-Kairos.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1163/21971927-bja10018?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McMillan, G. Steven & Narin, Francis & Deeds, David L., 2000. "An analysis of the critical role of public science in innovation: the case of biotechnology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-8, January.
    2. Thomas Brenner & Charlotte Schlump, 2011. "Policy Measures and their Effects in the Different Phases of the Cluster Life Cycle," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(10), pages 1363-1386, November.
    3. Boschma, Ron A., 1999. "The rise of clusters of innovative industries in Belgium during the industrial epoch," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 853-871, November.
    4. Kang, Hyo & Song, Jaeyong, 2017. "Innovation and recurring shifts in industrial leadership: Three phases of change and persistence in the camera industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 376-387.
    5. Henry Etzkowitz, 2012. "An Innovation Strategy to End the Second Great Depression," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(9), pages 1439-1453, May.
    6. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2011. "Conceptualizing Cluster Evolution: Beyond the Life Cycle Model?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(10), pages 1299-1318, November.
    7. Yuzhuo Cai & Rhiannon Pugh & Cui Liu, 2017. "A framework for analysing the role of innovation policy in regional innovation system development," International Journal of Innovation and Regional Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(4), pages 237-256.
    8. Jakob Edler & Jan Fagerberg, 2017. "Innovation policy: what, why, and how," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 33(1), pages 2-23.
    9. Schumpeter, Joseph A., 1947. "The Creative Response in Economic History," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 149-159, November.
    10. Giesecke, Susanne, 2000. "The contrasting roles of government in the development of biotechnology industry in the US and Germany," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 205-223, February.
    11. Armen A. Alchian, 1950. "Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(3), pages 211-211.
    12. Cockburn Iain M. & Stern Scott, 2010. "Finding the Endless Frontier: Lessons from the Life Sciences Innovation System for Technology Policy," Capitalism and Society, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-50, July.
    13. Loet Leydesdorff, 2012. "The Triple Helix, Quadruple Helix, …, and an N-Tuple of Helices: Explanatory Models for Analyzing the Knowledge-Based Economy?," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 3(1), pages 25-35, March.
    14. Shin, Jang-Sup, 2017. "Dynamic catch-up strategy, capability expansion and changing windows of opportunity in the memory industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 404-416.
    15. Ron Martin, 2010. "Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography—Rethinking Regional Path Dependence: Beyond Lock-in to Evolution," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 86(1), pages 1-27, January.
    16. Giachetti, Claudio & Marchi, Gianluca, 2017. "Successive changes in leadership in the worldwide mobile phone industry: The role of windows of opportunity and firms’ competitive action," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 352-364.
    17. Gilles Duranton, 2011. "California Dreamin': The Feeble Case for Cluster Policies," Review of Economic Analysis, Digital Initiatives at the University of Waterloo Library, vol. 3(1), pages 3-45, July.
    18. Schot, Johan & Steinmueller, W. Edward, 2018. "Three frames for innovation policy: R&D, systems of innovation and transformative change," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1554-1567.
    19. Dohse, Dirk & Staehler, Tanja, 2008. "BioRegio, BioProfile and the rise of the German biotech industry," Kiel Working Papers 1456, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Grashof, Nils, 2020. "Putting the watering can away Towards a targeted (problem-oriented) cluster policy framework," Papers in Innovation Studies 2020/4, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    2. Grashof, Nils, 2021. "Putting the watering can away –Towards a targeted (problem-oriented) cluster policy framework," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    3. Giulio Carli & Andrea Morrison, 2018. "On the evolution of the Castel Goffredo hosiery cluster: a life cycle perspective," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(5), pages 915-932, May.
    4. Yuzhe Miao & Jaeyong Song & Keun Lee & Chuyue Jin, 2018. "Technological catch-up by east Asian firms: Trends, issues, and future research agenda," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 639-669, September.
    5. Li, Daitian & Malerba, Franco, 2024. "Technological change and the evolution of the links across sectoral systems: The case of mobile communications," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    6. Graf, Holger & Broekel, Tom, 2020. "A shot in the dark? Policy influence on cluster networks," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    7. Landini, Fabio & Lee, Keun & Malerba, Franco, 2017. "A history-friendly model of the successive changes in industrial leadership and the catch-up by latecomers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 431-446.
    8. Xiaoran Zheng & Yuzhuo Cai, 2022. "Transforming Innovation Systems into Innovation Ecosystems: The Role of Public Policy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-26, June.
    9. Michael Rothgang & Jochen Dehio & Bernhard Lageman, 2019. "Analysing the effects of cluster policy: What can we learn from the German leading-edge cluster competition?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 44(6), pages 1673-1697, December.
    10. Dieter F Kogler & Emil Evenhuis & Elisa Giuliani & Ron Martin & Elvira Uyarra & Ron Boschma, 2023. "Re-imagining evolutionary economic geography," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 16(3), pages 373-390.
    11. Leonard Prochaska & Daniel Schiller, 2021. "An evolutionary perspective on the emergence and implementation of mission-oriented innovation policy: the example of the change of the leitmotif from biotechnology to bioeconomy," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 141-249, April.
    12. Kwak, Kiho & Kim, Namil, 2022. "Industrial Leadership Changes without Technological Discontinuity: Modularization, Institution-Led Market Discontinuity, and Market Development Strategy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    13. Giachetti, Claudio & Mensah, Deborah Tiniwah, 2023. "Catching-up during technological windows of opportunity: An industry product categories perspective," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    14. Soltanzadeh, Javad & Rahmani, Soma & Majidpour, Mehdi, 2024. "Technological catch-up in the Iranian steel industry: Integrating regime-based and complex product systems approaches," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    15. Michael Rothgang & Bernhard Lageman & Anne-Marie Scholz, 2021. "Why are there so few hard facts about the impact of cluster policies in Germany? A critical review of evaluation studies," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 105-139, April.
    16. Švarc, Jadranka & Dabić, Marina, 2021. "Transformative innovation policy or how to escape peripheral policy paradox in European research peripheral countries," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    17. Taalbi, Josef, 2017. "What drives innovation? Evidence from economic history," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8), pages 1437-1453.
    18. Fagerberg, Jan, 2018. "Mobilizing innovation for sustainability transitions: A comment on transformative innovation policy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1568-1576.
    19. Joanna Stryjek, 2021. "Counteracting the COVID-19 Crisis with Innovation Policy Tools: A Case Study of the EU’s Supranational Innovation Policy," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 450-468.
    20. Lee, Keun & Malerba, Franco, 2017. "Catch-up cycles and changes in industrial leadership:Windows of opportunity and responses of firms and countries in the evolution of sectoral systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 338-351.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:290419. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.