Thomas B. Long

The impact of domestic energy efficiency retrofit schemes on householder attitudes and behaviours

Retrofitting existing housing stock to improve energy efficiency is often required to meet climate mitigation, public health and fuel poverty targets. Increasing uptake and effectiveness of retrofit schemes requires understanding of their impacts on householder attitudes and behaviours. This paper reports results of a survey of 500 Kirklees householders in the UK, where the Kirklees Warm Zone scheme took place. This was a local government led city scale domestic retrofit programme that installed energy efficiency measures at no charge in over 50,000 houses. The results highlight key design features of the scheme, socio-economic and attitudinal factors that affected take-up of energy efficiency measures and impacts on behaviour and energy use after adoption. The results emphasise the role that positive feedback plays in reinforcing pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours of participants and in addressing concerns of non-participants. Our findings have implications for the design and operation of future domestic energy efficiency retrofit schemes.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going: towards a new – more critical – engagement with responsible research and innovation in an age of Trump, Brexit, and wider populism

ABSTRACTIn this article, we explore how responsible research and innovation (RRI) interacts with the current political context. We examine the (1) possible consequences for RRI and related agendas if values associated with ‘populist’ movements become more pervasive, (2) the role that a lack of RRI has potentially played in the development of this political context, and (3) how RRI as a concept, practice, and research agenda should respond. We argue that whilst RRI is threatened, it is now more important than ever. We propose that RRI needs to go beyond being a method for facilitating societal input into research and innovation and for highlighting desired impacts. RRI needs to evolve to provide an effective conduit for criticisms and the input of critical thinking and reflexivity into science and innovation, including in terms of economic policy and politics.

Integrating the management of socio-ethical factors into industry innovation: towards a concept of Open Innovation 2.0

To create a sustainable future, innovations are needed that integrate socio-ethical issues. Responsible innovation provides a method for managing these issues, and tries to ensure that innovation is conducted for and with society. The application of responsible innovation in industry contexts, where many of these innovations are developed, is limited by challenges related to dominant business logics, stakeholder management problems and resource constraints. Open innovation is an approach more commonly employed within industry contexts, which involves activities that overlap with responsible innovation dimensions and practices. This means that open innovation could represent a way to integrate the management of socio-ethical factors into industry contexts in a less disruptive and costly way. This paper explores the extent to which open innovation and responsible innovation overlap and could be compatible. Both open innovation and responsible innovation are reviewed theoretically before an empirical enquiry is launched through semi-structured interviews (n=11) with entrepreneurs developing innovations in the context of climate-smart agriculture in Europe. We find evidence for compatibility between exploratory open innovation activities and dimensions of responsible innovation. Results indicate that the management of socio-ethical issues through open innovation requires sensitivity to ethical issues and a motivation to include ethical considerations strategically in innovation processes. These findings are incorporated into a provisional extended open innovation model for the management of socio-ethical in industry contexts – an Open Innovation 2.0.

Business models for maximising the diffusion of technological innovations for climate-smart agriculture

Technological innovations will play a prominent role in the transition to climate-smart agriculture (CSA). However, CSA technological innovation diffusion is subject to socio-economic barriers. The success of innovations is partly dependent on the business models that are used to diffuse them. Within the context of innovations for CSA, the role that innovation providers’ business models play in the successful adoption and diffusion has received limited attention. In this paper we identify critical issues for business models for CSA technological innovations (BMfCSATI). Our results indicate that current BMfCSATIs are not optimised for diffusing CSA technological innovations. Critical business model elements include the value proposition, channels, customer relationships, key resources, key partners, and cost structure. We find a disparity between the views of CSA technological innovation providers and potential users. The paper explores the implications of the results and develops recommendations for CSA t...