Social innovations in the German energy
transition
an attempt to use the heuristics
of the multi-level perspective of transitions
to analyze the diffusion process of social
innovations
Background: For a successful transition to a sustainable energy system, not only technical but also social
innovations are required. A major challenge to social innovation research is how to translate the social innovation
from a novelty with big potential into a mainstream practice. The multilevel perspective (MLP) of socio-technical
transitions provides a heuristic to understand how niches can potentially break through to the regime level. In this
paper, we examine in how far a multilevel perspective approach is suited to analyze and better understand
diffusion trajectories of social rather than technological innovations, taking a social practice theory perspective. Five
example projects, selected among the top social innovations for the Energiewende in North Rhine-Westphalia, are
analyzed. We discuss to what extend the MLP provides a helpful tool to understand the transition processes.
Results: Social innovations can be very divers. We find that the MLP does not offer a one-size-fits-all framework
for the analysis of the diffusion of social innovations. The MLP proves applicable only in those cases where the
social innovation (1) can lead to a system change and (2) has a clear competing or symbiotic relationship with an
existing regime.
Conclusions: Social innovations that aim to be transformative in the sense that they have the goal to be system
changing (rather than incremental) can be analyzed along the heuristics of the MLP. For this type of social
innovation, the MLP can be fruitful to learn to better understand the diffusion dynamics of social innovation and
the barriers and drivers they might face. However, for social innovations that aim at incremental improvements
without challenging the existing system, the MLP cannot be applied to study the diffusion process.
Bibliographische Angaben:
Hölsgens, Henricus; Lübke, Stephanie; Hasselkuss, Marco:
Social innovations in the German energy
transition
an attempt to use the heuristics
of the multi-level perspective of transitions
to analyze the diffusion process of social
innovations;
In: Energy, sustainability and society, Band: 8:8/2018, 13 Seiten
URL: http://doi.org/10.1186/s13705-018-0150-7
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