Intermediating the energy transition across spatial boundaries: Cases of Sweden and Spain

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Abstract

Systemic intermediaries play an important role in shaping socio-technical transitions. However, there is hardly any knowledge about contextual factors that enhance or inhibit systemic intermediary activities in transnational settings. This study draws on a case study of a European intermediary in the energy transition field. The intermediary has been active in both transition-progressive and less transition-oriented countries in Europe. In specific, we investigate the intermediary's activities in Sweden and Spain. Due to local factors, the intermediary's approach was difficult to realize in Sweden. Most activities were performed with niche-actors or universities only, undermining systemic intermediation. By contrast, Spanish local factors favored systemic intermediation, allowing the regime and niche levels to converge. The findings of the study extend the literature by showing why intermediation in transition-progressive regions can suffer and by highlighting that transnational intermediaries entering a transition-progressive region must account for the local intermediation ecology when defining their role.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)466-484
Number of pages19
JournalEnvironmental Innovation and Societal Transitions
Volume36
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2020

Funding

This work was financially supported by EIT InnoEnergy SE . The authors thank Mathijs Driessen for his help in coding the data. This work further benefitted from discussions with Madis Talmar, our colleague, and, from discussions guided by Joel Gehman, Candy Jones and Bernard Leca during the 35 th EGOS-colloquium in Edinburgh. The authors are also grateful to the editor, the guest editor, Paula Kivimaa, and three anonymous reviewers. Because InnoEnergy is funded by the European Union, a lot of public funding was made available for innovation in the sustainable energy sector. This could be the reason why many companies and entrepreneurs joined the movement, because not many other options [such as bank loans] were available (IE4).

Keywords

  • Transition management
  • Intermediaries
  • Systemic intermediation
  • Energy transition
  • European policy
  • Case study
  • Geography
  • Transnational
  • Systemic intermediary

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