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: Actor:

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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:

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.

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,

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

If path creation at the level of application areas is the aggregate outcome of activities at actor levels,

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,

'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.

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

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,

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,

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.

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,

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

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,

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.

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

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

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,

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.

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.

/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

sense making and decision making as well as diffusion/acting on environment and interaction with other actors in real world. 1164 R. Koivisto et al./

In both technology and risk assessment this is made by changing mindsets, building trust among actors and developing better preparedness for the change,

In addition to performance analysis based on ex-post indicators the barometer includes the questionnaire of the views and visions of the future development by relevant national actors.

as well as a future-oriented survey exploring future visions of relevant national actors like industries, policy-makers and politicians, research community and future generations,

and second, to a technology barometer based on a survey study of the visions and attitudes of relevant national key actor and interest groups.

but also the innovation system and the actors working in the fields. A bibliometric analysis provided further input in this process.

As many actors are involved and many disciplines may contribute, energy is a field that needs a symphony.

or if it is more about identifying actors, innovation policy measures or other issues. When this paper is written,

The information and topics gained in these processes may also be interesting for other actors in the innovation system.

but also actor constellation and related conflict constellations, differ with regard to the framing, design or implementation of policies.

and creating a common language and shared understanding between different actors 40. Users often value the opportunity to explore contentious issues outside of the usual parameters in a safe space.

Those networks of actors are seldom willing to accept changes in core aspects of relevant policies.

First, analysis can be conducted by actors within the public administration, or by external parties. Secondly, the organisational mandate of the actors responsible can be either permanent or temporary.

Thirdly, a sector-based or a cross-sector approach can be used. Examples can be found for all categories

On the other hand, the strategy unit in the Department for Agriculture in The netherlands is an example for an actor in charge of long-term sectoral analysis. A number of other procedural options can be utilized to strengthen the role of scenario planning.

and processes that vary between open and closed formats of interaction with many or few actors 12.

At present, during its early stages, a wide variety of actors are anticipating both on the potential benefits and risks of the development of nanotechnologies and their embedment into markets and into society.

Such an emerging reconfiguration of actor relations, their roles and responsibilities is particularly striking in nanotechnology in the diverse activities in

uncertain and involve multiple actors working at multiple levels shot through with anticipatory strategies and expectations on risks and benefits of the emerging technology field.

which take actors'initiatives and interactions into account. The latter is important because this form of scenario confronts participants in multi-stakeholder workshops with choices

Such scenarios should highlight both the multilevel/multi-actor dynamics and the unfolding innovation journeys of technology development have not been developed to date.

of actor activities (including anticipation in the form of agendas and strategies) and of enabling and constraining factors

but also by international and global actors. 4 To capture this non-linearity of innovation processes, the metaphor of the innovation journey has been used;

and by learning processes of actors about artefacts and actants. Elements include the convergence and coupling of emerging technical and organisational elements,

and parcel of the actor-network that carries the innovation as well as the broader landscape which overtime shifts.

actors anticipate on futures and these expectations influence their attempts to shape activities 21. Recent projects such as Socrobust 11 were an attempt at creating anticipatory management

which focus on actors'estimates about desired futures, also neglects these processes. In this section I use three building blocks to construct a framework for prospecting innovation:

and technological application whilst recent notions regard innovation as being nonlinear and recursive interactions between a variety of actors participating in the quest for innovation. 8. 5 These environments,

These configurations are entanglements (sometimes regular networks) of many actors, interacting based on regimes of activities.

and is part of a socio-technical network of actors, artifacts and infrastructures which evolve with the innovation.

This reads like actor-network theory (Callon et al on TEN) and so innovation itself is an outcome of alignment and configuration of actors, artifacts and infrastructures.

In line with Innovation chain+nomenclature one could call this Innovation+.+8 Still the focus of technology developers in their FTA ACTIVITIES, focus on paths (such as roadmapping) rather than journeys.

Another aspect of endogenous futures is linked with anticipation of actors. Expectations can give indications of directions

(and it is just a matter of actors deciding on what they want to work towards).

Actors such as governmental agencies, industry and NGOS were held increasingly accountable for addressing societal concerns, feeling pressures to incorporate ELSA and HES into their ongoing activities (similarly with corporate social responsibility).

Thus, at the time, there was something at stake for these actors and a willingness to participate in discussions

I position (in the IC+framework) the actors that were active at the time of the workshop

At the same time, researchers (for example in the Frontiers Noe) and other actors in and around the nano-world were becoming concerned about hype and bubbles bursting,

While actors will always take enabling and constraining factors in the situation into account, Constructive TA adds to this because of a broader & deeper understanding of socio-technical dynamics.

which not only take actors'initiatives and interactions into account but also the surrounding or ensuing dynamics and shifts in agendas that slowly become irreversible.

to enhance the reflexivity of actors regarding strategic decisions which can modulate these developments, and larger lock ins (irreversibilities)

and this actor learning is captured in the term complexity. This learning links up with the complexity of evolving (governance and other) environments.

We can see the importance of new actors in the shaping of emerging governance patterns and industry structure, of NGOS such as the ETC-Group,

There is an opening for consideration of soft law due to actors (firms in the main) anticipating (and thus proceeding with caution.

in general most public engagement activities initiated by R&d actors focused more on enlightening the general public on the potentials of nanotech R&d-engagement as a lubricant against public friction.

and case analysis to find expectations of various actor groups and entanglements between groups and particular elements of RRI.

and links them up with overall strategies in motivations for engagement around nanotechnology. 12 The scenario focused on the engagement aspects of RRI, the roles of various actor groups, the strategies and how the interactions played out.

Tensions in this scenario include the issues of timeliness of engagement when to incorporate actors? Early stage technologies are fragile

and the eventual entanglement of actors and the RRI elements to allow certain paths and inhibit others.

Nanodiablog provides a space for other actors to shape the context from instrumental to constructive criticism (whistle blowers have a space to proclaim

The scenario in Box 4 will be shown in more detail in Section 5. 4. 2. The effect of these scenarios in the workshop The three scenarios together covered the various positions and expectations of those actors active in the debate around RRI.

The elements and actors were recognised by the participants with praise about the plausibility of such scenarios.

was the inclusion of all active actors in the scenarios. This meant that for certain actor strategies,

government actors attempt voluntary initiatives but there are tensions. This was the case at the time of writing w. r. t. the UK voluntary initiative.

Not all actors in R&d sign up to the codes, the broadness of principles causes concerns with some actors a large pharmaceutical company states,

RRI topics begin to fork as actors focus either on Speculative Ethics 41 and nearteer Health Safety and Environment issues.

Responsible actors, who have followed a particular code of conduct, flag their level responsibility by highlighting the following of codes as a sign of good governance Tension:

6. Evaluation and discussion These co-evolutionary scenarios can prepare the ground for discussion of complex potential radical technologies via the combination of endogenous futures, the IC+framework and deep case research into actors

In this case they were used by participants as a resource for discussing the complexities of potential multi-actor multilevel de/re alignments and the effects on nanotechnology emergence.

the scenario introduces actors and their activities, responses and shifts that have a certain plausibility given

and provide both a place for exploring different actors'positions and strategies as well as providing key elements and aspects in context.

and so helps in identifying actors and their strategies. This aids the scenario creator, in my case I could place amidst the three scenarios some major stances and strategies of various actors,

and based on expectations analysis and the concept of emerging irreversibilities, show how actors interactions and reactions would co-evolve with the broader IC+landscape. 6. 1. A new member to the socio-technical scenario family

Co-evolutionary scenarios can be created and are productive as an input in Constructive TA type workshops.

So the scenarios provide a grip on complexity through actors pro-actively shaping chains and governance,

and certain entanglements of actors and their activities prevail in one direction or another. The co-evolutionary scenario approach is a contribution to the growing field of socio-technical scenarios 3. Other members of the family include regime transition scenarios14,

and actor-centric scenarios revealing the visions carried by various actors 34. Co-evolutionary scenarios make a modest,

< Back - Next >

Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011