The Sustainability Transitions Platform

Abstract

Sustainability transitions is a complex multi-dimensional research field. In this field, different frameworks exist that have grown as separate strands while they actually contain many similarities and in some cases can even complement each other. In general, these frameworks try to present and clarify the processes related to transitions of socio-technical systems and the emergence, diffusion and utilization of technological innovations. To do so, researchers carry out historical event analyses for specific cases. This means that they gather, process and analyse data about events that have happened in the past to build a narrative of how an innovation has developed or a transition took place over time. Although there are guidelines in literature on how this should be done for each framework, the case results as presented in academic papers are often varied and the clarification behind the results and the used data can be unclear.
In this research an attempt has been made to reduce this variance and unclarity by building a tool in which the data gathering, categorizing and processing of sustainability transitions research cases is done structurally and the data itself is systemically presented through visualisations. This tool is a software based digital platform, referred to as the Sustainability Transitions Platform (STP). In the first draft of the platform functionalities have been limited and the sustainability transitions theory has been focused on the Multi-Level Perspective and Technological Innovation Systems. These are two of the most frequently used frameworks in the field and a combination of both is already being experimented with taking advantage of their commonalities and complementarities.
The combined framework contains three elements that are deemed important to build the system of the case. These are i) the environment in which the technological innovation system resides; ii) the actors, networks and institutions of the system; iii) the functions analysis tool to determine how the parts of the system are functioning.
These elements have been translated to the platform as three separate visualization tools, which are:
1. Technology environment, which presents the technology being analysed within a graph together with other technologies relevant for the analysis as comparison and landscape factors that influence the system.
2. Structural components, which presents all the actors, in a structured way through predefined groups, and their networks in the same graph and also present the relevant institutions in an adjacent table.
3. TIS functions analysis, which presents how the system is functioning in a radar chart based on a set of functions and their corresponding indicators.
These visualization tools are intended to present the case data in a structured way in order to help users of the platform better understand the system development process and make it comparable between cases.
The platform template has been tested through a case for offshore wind energy technology in Brazil.
From this case we have seen that i) the data does indeed need to be implemented structurally; ii) the visualization tools in the platform present the system through the three required elements of the framework; and iii) the platform user is able to determine possible bottlenecks for further development of the system. Another advantage gained by carrying out the case in a platform instead of how they currently are in journals, is that the digital aspects of the platform allow users to interact with the visualization tools and the underlying data which can help clarify the reasoning behind the conclusions of analysis. From the case we have also learned that in the current version of the platform i) inputting the data can be very time consuming and should in the future be automated; and ii) some essential aspects of the case are still not presented in the visualization tools, for example, the power or influence specific actors have in a system, which should be taken into account in future versions.
The STP appears to have a positive effect on sustainability transitions case implementation and would be recommended to be further developed. Given its dynamic nature it should also be used as an experimentational tool to merge the strengths of other frameworks in sustainability transitions research to eventually generate a single more complete framework and act as a bridge between theory and practice.