In this edited workshop recording, Jordi Molas-Gallart and Sandra Boni present a ‘formative’ approach to the evaluation of Transformative Innovation Policies that is operational and adaptable to different contexts. Together, they introduce the core principles of formative evaluation, practical experiences of implementing this approach within the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium membership, and allude to the concept of transformative outcomes.
Transformative Innovation Policies assert that addressing the key challenges currently facing our societies requires profound changes in current socio-technical systems. The workshop explores how leveraging such ‘socio-technical transitions’ calls for a different, broad mix of research and innovation policies, with particular attention being paid to experimentation. This poses a substantial evaluation challenge, presenting questions around how we evaluate these policy experiments with a narrow geographical and temporal scope, when the final objective is ambitiously systemic; and how we know whether a specific set of policy experiments is contributing to systemic transformation.
Acknowledgements
This session took place in June 2021 as part of TIPC’s Open Learning Series, a space for those working on transformative policy approaches around the world to refresh their knowledge, connect and learn from one another, with the aim of shifting the narrative for STI policy towards a focus on transformation and the SDGs.
Our thanks to Francisco Dominguez, Chandra Singgih Pitoyo and Geraldine Bloomfield at SPRU for digital coordination and editing.
Citation
Boni, A., Molas-Gallart, J., Shaw, V. (2021) Open Learning Series: A formative approach to the evaluation of Transformative Innovation Policies. Available at https://tipresourcelab.net/resource/a-formative-approach-to-the-evaluation-of-tip-from-the-tip-open-learning-series/
There was another specific session within the open learning seminars on Theories of Change that might be useful to add to this section