When theory meets practice in transformative innovation policy evaluation: experiences from Sweden

Journal article, 2024

Government policies increasingly focus on transformative innovation policy (TIP), as programmes are being reoriented towards addressing societal challenges and contributing to sustainability transitions. Evaluation practices need modification to keep up with this change. While a small number of frameworks for TIP evaluation have been proposed, building upon different sustainability transition approaches, little is known regarding the extent to which TIP thinking has been integrated into policy evaluation practice. Hence, there is a need, first, to understand the implications of TIP for evaluation, based on the TIP literature and, second, to investigate the extent to which TIP thinking is used in innovation policy evaluation practice, and the main challenges policymakers face in making evaluation more transformation oriented. To do this, we adapt Edler et al.’s (2012, The Practice of Evaluation in Innovation Policy in Europe’, Research Evaluation, 21: 167–82) innovation policy evaluation dimensions to create a framework within which to develop an archetypal TIP programme evaluation, based on the literature. We then investigate the take-up of TIP principles in evaluation in the specific case of Sweden. We use a cross-case comparison of three Swedish innovation programmes, namely the Vinnv€axt programme for sustainable regional growth, Challenge Driven Innovation, and the Strategic Innovation Programmes, to analyse the extent to which innovation policy evaluation practice aligns with this archetypal framework. Finally, we identify three challenges policymakers face when trying to reorient evaluations towards being more aligned with this archetypal framework.