Social innovation supports inclusive and accelerated energy transitions with appropriate governance

Benjamin K. Sovacool; Heike Brugger; Iska Brunzema; Alicja Dańkowska; Devon Wemyss; Anne-Lorène Vernay; Regina Betz; Flor Avelino; Tessa de Geus; Agata Dembek; Elisabeth Duetschke; Sabine Hielscher; Marfuga Iskandarova; Leticia Müller; Jörg Musiolik; Adélie Ranville; Joachim Schleich; Agata Stasik; Marta Strumińska-Kutra; Christian Winzer; Julia Wittmayer; Karoline S. Rogge

doi:10.1038/s43247-023-00952-w

Social innovation supports inclusive and accelerated energy transitions with appropriate governance

Benjamin K. Sovacool^*, Heike Brugger, Iska Brunzema, Alicja Dańkowska, Devon Wemyss, Anne-Lorène Vernay, Regina Betz, Flor Avelino, Tessa de Geus, Agata Dembek, Elisabeth Duetschke, Sabine Hielscher, Marfuga Iskandarova, Leticia Müller, Jörg Musiolik, Adélie Ranville, Joachim Schleich, Agata Stasik, Marta Strumińska-Kutra, Christian WinzerJulia Wittmayer, Karoline S. Rogge

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Accelerating energy transitions that are both sustainable and just remains an important challenge, and social innovation can have a key role in this transition. Here, we examine the diversity and potential of social innovation in energy systems transformation, synthesizing original mixed methods data from expert interviews, document analysis, social innovation experiments, a representative survey, and an expert survey. Based on a thematic analysis of these data, we advance four key findings: (1) the diversity of social innovation in energy is best understood when recognizing core social practices (thinking, doing, and organizing) and accounting for changes in social relations (cooperation, exchange, competition, and conflict); (2) governance, policy networks, and national context strongly shape social innovation dynamics; (3) processes of social innovation are implicated by multidimensional power relations that can result in transformative changes; and (4) social innovation in energy generally has strong social acceptance among citizens, benefits local communities and is legitimized in key community and city organizations. We discuss an agenda for 9 future research directions on social innovation in energy, and conclude with insights related to national context, governance, and acceleration.

Original language	English
Article number	289
Number of pages	11
Journal	Communications Earth & Environment
Volume	4
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00952-w
Publication status	Published - Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 837498, SONNET (Social Innovation in Energy Transitions).

Funding Information:
For our research design, we draw from original data collected over three years within the Social Innovation in Energy Transitions (SONNET) project, funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program. SONNET aimed at understanding the diversity, processes, and contributions of social innovation in energy. It did so by investigating how, to what extent, and under which enabling conditions diverse types of social innovation may result in new breakthroughs or successfully contribute to overcoming transition barriers, such as limited citizen engagement or slow adoption of new technologies.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, Springer Nature Limited.

Keywords

energy and society
environmental studies

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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s43247-023-00952-wFinal published version, 1.02 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Sovacool, B. K., Brugger, H., Brunzema, I., Dańkowska, A., Wemyss, D., Vernay, A.-L., Betz, R., Avelino, F., de Geus, T., Dembek, A., Duetschke, E., Hielscher, S., Iskandarova, M., Müller, L., Musiolik, J., Ranville, A., Schleich, J., Stasik, A., Strumińska-Kutra, M., ... Rogge, K. S. (2023). Social innovation supports inclusive and accelerated energy transitions with appropriate governance. Communications Earth & Environment, 4(1), Article 289. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00952-w

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title = "Social innovation supports inclusive and accelerated energy transitions with appropriate governance",

abstract = "Accelerating energy transitions that are both sustainable and just remains an important challenge, and social innovation can have a key role in this transition. Here, we examine the diversity and potential of social innovation in energy systems transformation, synthesizing original mixed methods data from expert interviews, document analysis, social innovation experiments, a representative survey, and an expert survey. Based on a thematic analysis of these data, we advance four key findings: (1) the diversity of social innovation in energy is best understood when recognizing core social practices (thinking, doing, and organizing) and accounting for changes in social relations (cooperation, exchange, competition, and conflict); (2) governance, policy networks, and national context strongly shape social innovation dynamics; (3) processes of social innovation are implicated by multidimensional power relations that can result in transformative changes; and (4) social innovation in energy generally has strong social acceptance among citizens, benefits local communities and is legitimized in key community and city organizations. We discuss an agenda for 9 future research directions on social innovation in energy, and conclude with insights related to national context, governance, and acceleration.",

keywords = "energy and society, environmental studies",

author = "Sovacool, {Benjamin K.} and Heike Brugger and Iska Brunzema and Alicja Da{\'n}kowska and Devon Wemyss and Anne-Lor{\`e}ne Vernay and Regina Betz and Flor Avelino and {de Geus}, Tessa and Agata Dembek and Elisabeth Duetschke and Sabine Hielscher and Marfuga Iskandarova and Leticia M{\"u}ller and J{\"o}rg Musiolik and Ad{\'e}lie Ranville and Joachim Schleich and Agata Stasik and Marta Strumi{\'n}ska-Kutra and Christian Winzer and Julia Wittmayer and Rogge, {Karoline S.}",

note = "Funding Information: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 837498, SONNET (Social Innovation in Energy Transitions). Funding Information: For our research design, we draw from original data collected over three years within the Social Innovation in Energy Transitions (SONNET) project, funded by the European Commission{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 program. SONNET aimed at understanding the diversity, processes, and contributions of social innovation in energy. It did so by investigating how, to what extent, and under which enabling conditions diverse types of social innovation may result in new breakthroughs or successfully contribute to overcoming transition barriers, such as limited citizen engagement or slow adoption of new technologies. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, Springer Nature Limited.",

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Sovacool, BK, Brugger, H, Brunzema, I, Dańkowska, A, Wemyss, D, Vernay, A-L, Betz, R, Avelino, F, de Geus, T, Dembek, A, Duetschke, E, Hielscher, S, Iskandarova, M, Müller, L, Musiolik, J, Ranville, A, Schleich, J, Stasik, A, Strumińska-Kutra, M, Winzer, C, Wittmayer, J & Rogge, KS 2023, 'Social innovation supports inclusive and accelerated energy transitions with appropriate governance', Communications Earth & Environment, vol. 4, no. 1, 289. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00952-w

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AU - Brugger, Heike

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AU - Dańkowska, Alicja

AU - Wemyss, Devon

AU - Vernay, Anne-Lorène

AU - Betz, Regina

AU - Avelino, Flor

AU - de Geus, Tessa

AU - Dembek, Agata

AU - Duetschke, Elisabeth

AU - Hielscher, Sabine

AU - Iskandarova, Marfuga

AU - Müller, Leticia

AU - Musiolik, Jörg

AU - Ranville, Adélie

AU - Schleich, Joachim

AU - Stasik, Agata

AU - Strumińska-Kutra, Marta

AU - Winzer, Christian

AU - Wittmayer, Julia

AU - Rogge, Karoline S.

N1 - Funding Information: The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 837498, SONNET (Social Innovation in Energy Transitions). Funding Information: For our research design, we draw from original data collected over three years within the Social Innovation in Energy Transitions (SONNET) project, funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program. SONNET aimed at understanding the diversity, processes, and contributions of social innovation in energy. It did so by investigating how, to what extent, and under which enabling conditions diverse types of social innovation may result in new breakthroughs or successfully contribute to overcoming transition barriers, such as limited citizen engagement or slow adoption of new technologies. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, Springer Nature Limited.

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Social innovation supports inclusive and accelerated energy transitions with appropriate governance

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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