Analysis of the New "Transformative Change" Paradigm in Innovation Policy

Since the beginning of the 21st century, innovation policy scholars have spoken in new and innovative terms about new phenomena in the field of innovation policy, which are different from the common paradigms of the innovation policy scene, namely research and development and the innovation system. This emerging approach, which is based on theories of multi-level perspective (MLP), transition management (TM), strategic niche management (SNM), and responsible research and innovation (RRI), has been considered by many researchers and has become popular as a paradigm shift in scientific sources. In this article, by systematically reviewing the history of the transformational paradigm, 33 articles were selected from 994 articles searched in the Scopus database and studied to extract the theoretical foundations, rationales, and policy implications of this paradigm. Accordingly, the lack of correlation between social and environmental development with technology advancement, the role of the regime and the niche as the symbols of resistance and change, the normative orientation of innovation, and the need for systemic innovation as theoretical foundations; Multi-level approach, endogenous and participatory approach, radical change in gradual stages, diversity and guided choice and simultaneous attention to development and destruction as rationales; and development perspectives in the field of change, organizing and supporting new markets, entrepreneurial experimentation, transformation in the pattern of legitimacy, and tangible change in the regime's laws were identified as policy implications of the paradigm. Finally, attention to the geography and global political economy, consideration of the unsustainable development (especially in the developing context), and the development of the roles of market, businesses and intermediaries were proposed as the policy implications for the development and implementation of transformative change paradigm.