Citizens as an innovation source in sustainability transitions – linking the directionality of innovations with the locus of the problem in transformative innovation policy

Figures & data

Table 1. Activities and their focus as defined in the Action Plan 2030.

Focus of activities	Food industry (Production & supply)	Citizens/ households	Public sector/ Policy making	Total
Type of activity Research	12	3	4	19
Information	6	10	2	18
Innovation	10	0	1	11
Collaboration	10	0	1	11
Regulations	4	2	2	8
Total	42	15	10	67
Example of activity	Development of packaging solutions that contribute to reduced food waste in the food chain.	Web-based information with recommendations for handling fresh fruit and vegetables.	Guidance/ support for municipalities to work on food waste prevention.

Table 2. Overview of funded innovation projects.

#	Funded source	Funded amount	Type of innovation	#	Proposed target group	#	Funding example
16	Start-ups	SEK7.4 million	Technological Business model Process Service	6 6 2 2	Food producers Food industry (B2B) Food industry (B2C) Citizens/households	2 12 1 1	Collaborative intelligence and data-driven decision making within agricultural industry (amount SEK 900,000)
15	Research institutions	SEK20 million	Technological Business model Process Product	4 1 5 5	Food producers Food industry (B2B) Food industry (B2C) Citizens/households	6 6 2 1	Smart storage solutions in the fridge of the future to reduce food waste (amount SEK 2,671,954)
12	Producers	SEK15.9 million	Technological Business model Process Service	6 2 3 1	Food producers Food industry (B2B) Food industry (B2C)	4 6 2	New grain sorting technology for improved food security and safety applied to oats (amount SEK 2,000,000)
2	Public sector organizations	SEK0.8 million	Product	2	Food industry (B2B) Citizens/households	1 1	Mini recycling station for increased collection of quality-assured food waste (amount SEK 340,000)

45Total funded amount: SEK44.1 million (approx. €4 million or USD 4.5 million)

Table 3. Overview of key arguments and implications.

Key findings	Theoretical implications	Policy implications
Transformative innovation policy practice adheres to the producer-centric innovation paradigm.	To be inclusive of citizens as actors in sustainability transitions and guide policy practice accordingly, transformative innovation policy theory must be more strongly linked to the consumer innovation research field.	Citizens need to be recognized as contributing actors who may engage in a wide range of activities, including innovating, legitimating, intermediating between user groups and producers, lobbying for system reform, or advocating new lifestyles and practices. Innovating citizens need to be supported in experimentation and the scaling of their solutions by connecting them with relevant other actors and resources.
A current weakness in transformative innovation policy is the lack of consideration of the actual locus of the problem and innovation.	Transformative innovation policy theory needs to factor in the stickiness of problem-related knowledge and the locus of different types of innovations in socio-technical systems. Social changes often start from end-users and user communities who have first-hand experience of the underlying problem.	To transform a socio-technical system and reach challenging sustainability aims such as SDG 12.3, the related policy design needs to identify the locus of the problem within the system (e.g. where does the largest amount of food waste occur). Innovating actors who are close to the problem need to be targeted and supported because they have first-hand experience of why the problem occurs. Their solutions thus may have the best fit and highest likelihood of adoption by others.
Citizens innovate but their underlying motivations differ from producers.	Transformative innovation policy theory needs to recognize that market failures differ between actors. Consumer innovations often do not diffuse because citizens, unlike producers, lack incentives to invest in innovation diffusion.	Depending on which actors are central to addressing a sustainability challenge (e.g. citizens to reduce household food waste), a policy needs to be designed to counteract the underlying market failure. For consumer innovations this market failure is most likely shown in a disconnection between first adopter benefits and the efforts required to diffuse valuable innovations.