Frictions in the bioeconomy? A case study of policy translations and innovation practices

Abstract

Building on a case study of a strategic funding initiative for biotechnology research and innovation, the paper analyses how policy objectives concerning innovation and value creation are responded to within the practices of researchers and governance actors. The paper employs an analytical perspective that centres on the interrelation between policy articulations and actors’ daily work practices and provides a novel study of how innovation demands are negotiated and made sense of within the context of three different empirical sites: national policy and science governance, intermediary science governance, and research practices. The paper addresses a problematic ‘hopeful’ mode of governance in today’s policy that is based on the idea of filling innovation deficits in current practices. As an alternative to this mode, the paper argues for the need for a more empathetic and practice-oriented policy discourse on innovation and value creation.