Conceptualising the foundations of sustainability focused innovation policy: From constructivism to holism

The emergence of complex global problems and related concerns about ‘sustainability’ are central pre-occupations of discourses concerning innovation and its pursuit. The pressing need to gain fresh insights into the nature of new ideas and collaborative endeavour that can be used to drive societal transitions, is increasingly acknowledged. The objective of this paper is to contribute to these insights by examining and enriching the conceptual foundations of sustainability focused innovation policy. It's comparative metatheoretical approach enables exploration of the epistemological and political dimensions of the geography of transitions and systems literatures and the implications for the way in which they inform transformational change. The potential for deeper engagement with systems theory to create more holistic representations of complex problems, and the issues which must be addressed to resolve them, is explored. Findings regarding theory development and its implications for sustainability focused policy making provide a vital contribution to the fields of economic geography and the geography of transitions as well as to transitions literature more generally. As such it augments the foundations of ongoing empirical study and discourses which address the diminishing returns associated with current growth trajectories.