Actor

Actor (621)
Actor network theory (4)
Actor strategy (12)
Individual actor (13)
Innovation actor (18)
Key player (23)
Player (94)
Private actor (6)
Societal actor (9)

Synopsis: Actor:

& Social Change 72 (2005) 1059 1063 1062 process on how the system operates, the players involved,

and opportunism that best enables actors to pursue their superordinate values and objectives. Compared to conventional foresight,

and modification of actual policy strategies because the perception and the expectations of actors with respect to future developments have changed as a result of the process.

This complexity is due to the increasingly interactive and multi-actor character of innovation processes, a development that in conjunction with the new possibilities offered by information

Secondly, they should contribute to the mobilisation and coordination of the decision-making by different actors.

and options for individual actors on how to change course and direction, or at least enable to think out of the box about qualitatively different approaches and strategies.

actors need to be able to adjust to external developments and other actors'strategies as they unfold

and make sure they focus their shaping power on their highest priorities. Moreover, we would like to argue that

and to guide decision-making of individual actors if foresight is to have a real impact. In this paper

and be brought down to the level of individual actors'strategies. As a consequence, we propose combining phases of open participation with closed processes of targeted strategy development.

and that their strategies need to take the strategic behaviour of other actors into account.

which external developments (such as the strategies of other actors but also exogenous developments) can vary. And it is enhanced by coherent actions of a range of key decisionmakker in research policy, economy and society.

and learning to improve the coherence and coordination between the actions of a wide range of actors and stakeholders.

but in particular also decisionmakker from research, industry, policy-making and society, a shared understanding of current problems, goals and development options is expected to emerge among those actors that have an important role to play in shaping the future.

This converging understanding of the issues at play is expected to contribute to improving implicitly the coherence of the distributed decisions of these actors, in line with the shared mental framework developed.

How can individual actors, and policy-makers in particular, actually protect themselves against the fallacies of false promises

adaptive planning provides a framework for developing forward-looking strategies and options for individual actors. Thirdly, adaptive planning takes into account the accumulation of knowledge

when other actors are committed to something that I dislike Adaptive strategies can be said to be strategically opportunistic,

business actors to involve themselves with an emerging technology, which is in turn often a precondition for it to mature through learning-by-doing

and stressed the interdependenciie with other policy areas and other innovation actors. Finally and most recently, several projects have been conducted in the Austrian context, dealing with strategy development for research,

Conventional foresight approaches have tended to stress the ability to shape the future by initiating participatory processes involving key actors,

while underestimating the influence on the future course of events of external developments that are beyond the influence of these actors.

however, when individual actors need to make up theirminds about their strategies and concrete decisions, such forwardloookin consultations need to be kept internal to the client organisation23

for instance in order to ensure coordination and cooperation between different actors and stakeholders. 22 An alternative, more theory-led,

Actors; Interactions and decision-making processes; which are framed and guided by Organisational and institutional structures, e g. with regard to the internal organisation of the addressee or relevant market and regulatory conditions;

i e. the entirety of the distributed knowledge that is available to the different actors; The process dynamics, by which these different elements of innovation systems are coupled. 3. 2. 3. Phase 2:

After all, it is external developments that drive the need for adaptation. 24 The understanding of innovation systems analysis as used here is based on the conventional actor-oriented approach as pioneered by Freeman 44 and Lundvall 45 in the late 1980s and early 1990s

At this point, goals and values of the different actors come into play. A possible starting point is therefore a debate on visions related to the focal issue of the exercise.

This is useful in order to clarify shared (or diverging) policy and/or societal goals, ambitions and underlying values of the actors and stakeholders involved.

In addition to structured brainstorming, simple gaming can be a useful methodology here to identify how different types of actors could choose to position themselves

One of the main difficulties of this kind of strategic approach to policy-making consists of the fact that all actors involved are autonomous

and between public and private actors have started to play such an important role in policymakkingwithin such a comprehensive setting,

because in particular public policy strategies fulfill an orienting function for many private actors as well, and in the best case play an implicit coordinating function for their decision-making.

it is defensive in accepting the need to adapt to external developments beyond a single's actors influence,

it enhances the effectiveness of forward-thinking by including both collective and single-actor processes,

Thus, coordination efforts may be enacted best within various multi-actor governance structures where transparent and accountable intermediary interfaces enhance learning processes and new collaboration activities 13.

selected foresight activities and selected process elements such as decision support for the bottom up thematic prioritization and the formation of new networks may shift the locus of activities closer to national actors.

Regulatory challenges in the sense of controlling dominant players can be detected by calculating concentration indices of patent applications.

and increasingly in the context of policymakking building on their capacity to facilitate an alignment of actors'expectations through interactions. 3. 3. 2. Examples

and leads to alignment of actors. Our tool can be applied in strategic management of research andr&dat the level of science-to-industry networks.

10.1016/j. techfore. 2008.02.002 1. Lacunae and prospects of assessment and alignment tools for emerging science and technology For innovation to succeed actor alignment in the form of innovation chains from laboratory to products

Alignment is easier to achieve where the actors are known, their relationships functioning, regulation is largely unambiguous

conditions of non-linearity and high technology and market uncertainty are typical 2. This often leaves actors with the alternative of‘muddling through

This includes actors outside the network, in the case of nanotechnology, start-ups and SMES which have a lot at stake in entering such risky innovation chains.

and 2. exploring strategies for specific actor groups (SMES and researchers. At both intra-organizational (department-level) and inter-organizational levels in technology and industry, roadmapping has become a fashionable alignment tool.

and made available to actors. The FP6-NEST‘ATBEST'project addressed this problem in a workshop with practitioners

multiple actors follow their own paths-as-strategies towards a future of possible (if competing,

Whilst following their paths actors consider a number of factors‘along the road'(which contribute a considerable amount of uncertainty, and demand flexibility.

The aggregate outcome of actor strategies is the path-as-paradigm. These different paths at the different levels can be anticipated

portfolio creation) reflections on what road to take for actors such as research groups, or start-ups), or which roads to support (for programme managers).

or a transition is needed to another strategy open to this particular actor. In the paper we report on the (ongoing) development and application of the‘multi-path mapping'(MPM) toolset.

and strategic resources to move further (from the actor perspective). Technical paradigms are‘models 'and‘patterns'for finding solutions to selected technological problems,

Path dependency is a self-reinforcing process beyond the control of the actors involved leading to lock in.

This model argues that a path comes into existence behind the backs of all actors concerned

while modelling emergence on the basis of interactions of actors and their environment. Path creation acknowledges agency in the form of‘mindful deviation'and the mobilising of resources by actors leading to the creation of new paths 39.

Of particular interest for us, are the two main foci of the approach:(1) acknowledging mindful deviation as part of the emerging processes,

This broadens the previous notions of path from lock in to the co-evolution of interactions of networks of actors with attempts at mindful deviation. 11 Characteristics of path dependency

This model seeks to conceptualise path dynamics both at the actor and aggregate level (similar to technical paradigms).

and looks at sociotechhnica paths as emerging as outcomes of actor alignments within and across multilevels. 13 Researchers working with the concept of socio-technical paths have recently taken up the notion of emerging irreversibilities.

one can attempt to modulate/steer dynamics towards the more desirable actor arrangements and entanglements. 2. 2. The models of path used in this project For this project we draw on the notion of socio-technical path in its two forms:

and path as micro-level actor strategies projected towards a future paradigm. 11 Which can have unintended consequences as Anthony Giddens 40 points out Merton has provided perhaps the classical discussion of the issue.

when there is alignment. 14 This is in keeping with the'actants'notion as network nodes in Actor-Network theory 49.522 D. K. R. Robinson,

Entanglements of sociotechhnica actors and factors are both causes and effects of these dynamics. Predictions and projections of all sorts can be made (as in roadmaps) outlining the future path of socio-technical development.

The second notion of path is from the perspective of an actor making decisions, developing strategies and taking action.

be it on the individual actor level (such as an entrepreneur) or on the level of the paradigm (national agencies, international consortia).

Who will be the key actors in stimulating the innovation chain (noting the reluctance of larger industry to stimulate innovation chains)

Eventually, this allows targeting of research and the negotiation with various relevant innovation chain actors. For cell-on-a-chip

and application paths for chip-based cell analysis platforms (cf Fig. 3). The map indicates that actors can select between two distinct yet general clusters of technological paths within cell analysis:

Each decision is strategic as it requires investments and expertise on the parts of actors involved

the existence of innovation chains around MCA linking actors in research, experimental integration, integration into platforms,

or visions, of actors involved in the innovation process. Actors can and do link up with application areas such as those mapped in the top section of the Figure.

The Figure also implies that, from a technical point of view, the future path of drug delivery can

However, it is only the aggregate effect of actors linking up with visions of application,

concerted and sustained interaction of actors in and around the innovation chains is necessary. The resulting first-round MPM shown in Fig. 3,

We have plotted two actor strategy paths into the map to illustrate some of the details that can be included in such a map.

in order to direct research and seek out possible actors who could co-construct an innovation chain based on the Strategic research Areas of Frontiers. 2. Broadening the perspectives of the practitioners participating in the exercise to test the robustness of MPM as part of a strategy support system

and design houses Research device is picked up by someone Groups of heterogeneous actors coming together in a cluster The four options shown in italic where chosen to be discussed in more detail;

whilst the content of the map focused on organizational arrangements and roles of actors at different stages of the chain.

and outlook for multi-path mapping as strategic intelligence for reflexive alignment We have reported on a tool to provide ongoing strategic intelligence on evolving actor paths and emerging paradigms related to new and Emerging s&t.

Shifts of entanglements are possible for actors for some time but otherwise they are constrained more or less as they are caught up in the very path dynamics at strategy

where insights into technology dynamics are explored with actors in order to broaden at an early stage the decision making process.

The MPM-2 project involved a collective mapping of projected actor strategy paths (or actors'paths-into-the-future) and a reflection on the future socio-technical path or entanglements

or constrain some of these actor strategy paths could be brought into view. If path creation at the level of application areas is the aggregate outcome of activities at actor levels,

then any of the innovation chains identified can create the matrix of entanglements constitutive of the new technology-application paradigm:

Strategic flexibility means different things for different actors and situations, programme managers in particular can use it to be flexible in the selection of projects into a portfolio,

or which actor strategies of building up such chains to support. It can be linked with assessments of hype cycles,

where he analyzes genetics/genomics based innovation chains and actor strategies in the converging zone of the food and health sectors. 538 D. K. R. Robinson, T. Propp/Technological forecasting & Social Change

'This framework should be capable of explaining the interdependencies and inter-relationships between system elements such as actors, processes, inputs, outputs and impacts,

Actors'alignment 1. Introduction The present article presents results to date2 from research leading towards the production of a Phd thesis entitled Assessing the contribution of Foresight to a more participatory knowledge society.

In such amodel, foresight has to be seen as a systemcomprised of a number of basic elements, namely actors, objectives, processes, inputs and outputs.

The role of stakeholders/actors, processes and objectives also have to be studied in order to identify the principles

which collaboration and networking are facilitated within a society, within and between different groups of actors.

Dealing with uncertainty and partial or incomplete knowledge needs collaboration and the strategic alignment of actors.

The alignment of actors goes beyond the usual actors in previous times (i e. government, industry and scientists.

Societal actors and the public at large are seen increasingly as stakeholders of major importance that should be involved in decision-making processes.

However, collaboration and the alignment of actors'efforts are dependent upon levels of social trust.

Additionally, it enforces the active engagement of relevant actors strengthening their communication and collaboration via constructive discussions and joint decision-making.

and alliances needed within a knowledge society by engaging actors with different backgrounds, skills and perspectives in new forms of social interaction and networking, typically working towards a common purpose.

The alignment of actors'interests, their active participation in dealing with uncertainty, the development of informed publics and, through all of these, to the evolution of strategies to cope with

Typically, logic model approaches start with specific programme goals and objectives and attempt to identify paths to potential goal attainment by treating foresight programmes as systems comprised of a number of basic elements, namely context, actors, processes

Promoting active participation Source of inspiration for nongovernmental actors INNO: Supporting innovation-based growth Achievement of long-term reform of the productive system through a raised emphasis on high technology Making the case for increased investment in R&d More informed STI priorities

Establishment of communication structures between innovation actors CDA: Increasing creativity, knowledge diffusion and absorption Facilitate thinking out of the box Development of new ways of thinking Challenge mindsets Creating a language

Aligning actors Support the empowerment of system actors Build trust between system actors N: Facilitate networking Form new networks

and influence their appearance within specific foresight contexts (seen as systems comprised of actors, objectives, processes,

Institutional structures and settings (including the configuration of actors and institutions and communication between them) Governance and policy-making culture (including levels of commitment) Sociocultural factors in relation to public participation and the perceived utility and eventual impacts of foresight exercises The nature of innovation processes and the‘innovation system'in

the social capital of the actors involved and their community and capacity building capabilities. The evaluation of the second round of the Swedish Technology foresight initiative 6 found that indirect effects on foresight capabilities were marked more than the anticipated impacts of foresight results on policy-making.

'The Malta case is a good example of an inclusiveness approach involving a wide variety of actors

networks and actor alignment Given the peculiar nature of the task at hand, namely the search for diverse impacts (from changes in social capital to more informed publics and better networking) that may

and actors'alignment is discussed. A great deal of discussion has taken place about whether networks are a new form of governance coordination,

Several analytical tools have also been developed in this area, e g. social network analysis 22, transaction cost analysis 23 and actor network theory 24, 25.

and also from actor-networks, which put both animate and inanimate‘actors'in the same category.

when technical and social factors and actors come together in a close or loose interaction. Common interests, empathy and complementarity create alignment within a constituency,

or between the players initiating the constituency-building process and potential or target constituencies such as suppliers and users.

While the incompatibility and non-complementarity of actors'areas of expertise within a constituency are major sources of potential misalignment,

and secondly on those factors in the Wider (External environment likely to induce positive impacts in terms of networking and actors'alignment.

the actors can and should be characterised by interinstittutiona communication and collaboration, mutual interests and low dependence.

The foresight objectives should reflect goal alignment and the mutual benefits and interests of the interested actors.

in order to define the degree to which foresight exercises can achieve impacts in networking and actors'alignment.

or between the‘inside'players and other players such as suppliers, users, consumers; or between competing

The alignment of actors'interests, their active participation in dealing with uncertainty, the development of informed publics and, through all of these, to the evolution of strategies to cope with

thus capable of explaining the interdependencies and interrelatiionship between foresight system elements such as actors, processes, inputs, outputs and impacts,

A first attempt was made to study the specificities of the areas relating to networking and actor alignment, mainly based on organisational behaviour and governance theories.

An Introduction to Actor-Network-theory, Oxford university Press, Oxford, 2005.26 A k. Baker, Chapter 9: Organisational Alliances, Partnerships and Networks in Management Benchmarking Study, Washington Research Evaluation Network,

accepted 1 february 2008 Abstract Universities have traditionally been key players in producing and validating new scientific knowledge,

but other actors have also become major research performers. Meanwhile, the notion of research has been extended considerably,

emergence of new research players; changing science society links and societal demands towards universities; demographic changes,‘massification'of higher education,

Also indirectly and less manifestly the various EC funded projects and expert groups on higher education can also shape these policies. 5 ERIA is understood throughout this paper as the set of all relevant actors of RTDI processes in the EU

among these actors. 6 Non-EU universities and Business r&d units are already operating in the EU,

& Social Change 75 (2008) 558 582 2. The role of universities in knowledge production 2. 1. The changing landscape of research systems Universities have traditionally been key players in

while further research actors became strong players in the 19th century, notably firms (often but not exclusively in the form of R&d units) and public labs 12.

new players in producing, using and validating knowledge, learning, learning capabilities, and learning systems, etc. 13,14, 27 30.

the balance of research activities between universities and other players; the competence of national vs. regional governments to regulate and fund universities;

universities vs. other players There is a rather strong consensus in the literature on the rationale to spend public money on basic science:

and the Academies of Sciences in a number of Central and Eastern European countries. 19 For a more detailed description of public research centres, especially on the variety of players in this sector, e g. in terms of organisational forms and changing ownership (public,

New players are likely to enter the global research arena in two respects. First, a large number of research organisations (universities, public and private labs, firms, etc.

located in currently laggard countries likely emerge as major players. In other words, the number of the already existing types of research organisations can increase significantly,

-interdisciplinary research. 4. New players might emerge and new norms might be applied when legitimating and validating knowledge.

Besides conventional academic researchers, knowledge is produced by a wide variety of players, e g. think tanks, private research organisations, nonprofit organisations, government agencies, consultancy companies, market research organisations, patients'groups, various

As the roles of different players, and hence‘the rules of the game'are changing in legitimating knowledge,

if validated by conventional academic rules and players;(c a clear separation between knowledge created by credible academic organisations and nonacademic ones,

or meeting local needs vs. acting as a global player; etc.)) are likely to be evaluated by different sets of criteria.

and the nature of academic activities would most likely be resolved in different ways by different players.

The emergence of new players and new business models for universities is likely to add‘more colours'to this picture.

and co-operations among the various players are key aspects of the future shape and performance of universities.

In any case, it is highly likely that key players of strong EU regions would act together both at an intra-regional and an interregional level probably also with their counterparts outside of the EU. a The current success of Denmark,

or as concerted actions of member states and other key players, without a strong centre. This is thewell-known issue of having

EU funds for RTD infrastructure do not pursue cohesion objectives Innovation systems, co-operation among key players a Strong, flexible innovation systems in a large number of regions (with their own specific strengths),

however, not Table 2 (continued) ERIA EU Double success Successful multi-speed EU Innovation systems, co-operation among key players a Intense communication among businesses, academia, policy-makers,

networking and co-operation among key players inside those regions and across regions Ad hoc, weak communication and co-operation among the key players in laggard regions;

ERIA is understood throughout this paper as the set of all relevant actors of RTDI processes in the EU,

and that would lead to a Successful multi-speed EU. Not all of these questions can be discussed here as appropriate answers to them would require a dialogue among the key players,

and their functions are assumed by new players, who perform their tasks/roles in radically novel and diverse ways 21.

a) they progressively lose their power to validate knowledge produced outside their domain b) they maintain their power to validate knowledge produced outside their domain c a new public authority is set up to validate knowledge produced by a large variety of actors d

with other players in (regional, national, sectoral, international) innovation systems and with the society A new balance of the main activities;

intense interactions with other players in (regional, national, sectoral, international) innovation systems and with the society Universities do not understand/take on their role in addressing societal issues New activities to promote cohesion among EU regions

as well as by offering these new types of insights for other actors 576 A. Havas/Technological forecasting & Social Change 75 (2008) 558 582 universities,

'not much interactionwith other players in innovation systems and with the society Excessive emphasis on enhancing the competitiveness of EU businesses;

Not only several other players conduct research, but in the advanced countries Business r&d units have even a bigger weight than universities.

the role of new players in producing, using and validating knowledge; etc. As both the activities of universities and their environment are undergoing fundamental changes,

exchanging these sorts of experience among the concerned actors is desirable, as are promoting strategic dialogues among the stakeholders,

Further, foresight process aligns the participating actors around emergent agendas, resulting in a coordinated mobilisation of people, resources and actions.

of Knowledge, Sage Publications, London, 1994.31 L. Sanz-Menéndez, The Future of Key Actors in the European research area:

the model lacks a model of the actor; full validation of the model requires a longitudinal analysis;

decentralized actors may be stored in a network form. This network, although highly diffuse, may be accessed by all players for personal as well as community betterment.

Hierarchies are one form of technological structure confirmed by theories and practice. A hierarchy is one structure of many that have been used for technological integration 14.

that many users of technology roadmapping exist in a vertically integrated environment where a few big players have the interests and capabilities to assist in technological coordination.

Derrida's ideas informed Callon and others who developed actor network theory as a vehicle for research in science and technology 33.

Actor network theory is a material, semiotic method, expressly interested in both concepts as well as objects. Knowledge about science and technology may come in two forms.

The hierarchical random graph model is missing a model of the actor. In other words, it attempts no explanation of the capabilities or interests of the innovator,

infrastructure planning has to incorporate an explicit political dimension as well as a wide range of actors with diverging interest positions.

These explorative external scenarios 23 typically span a wide range of possible developments of context factors that are beyond the control of the relevant actors.

and to guide decision making of individual actors if foresight is to have a real impact. We take this proposition as a strong invitation to explicitly specify the organizational and procedural interfaces between the exploratory phase in a strategic planning process

/Technological forecasting & Social Change 76 (2009) 1150 1162 actors. The core team selects approximately a dozen stakeholder representatives according to their influence and affectedness 61.

Political actors of the region were keen on developing a perspective for the future of the sanitation system to avoid singular investments,

In addition to technical and organizational aspects, the core team surveyed the actors in the regional sanitation landscape to select participants for the stakeholder workshops.

E. Störmer, Focus on actors initial experiences with system constellations in theory-based evaluations, Z. Eval. 7 (1)( 2008) 35 73.61 J. Mayers, Stakeholder power

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