On 30 September and 1 October, members of the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC) took part in a strategic dialogue at the University of Sussex to explore new partnership models in the face of accelerating technological change, growing geopolitical tensions and a shifting landscape for urgently-needed international cooperation on transformative change.
The two-day event brought together TIPC core members alongside knowledge partners, associate members, hubs and coordinating universities, with representation and input from:
- AIT Austrian Institute of Technology
- Deep Transitions Lab
- Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, South Africa
- Government of Catalonia
- INGENIO Joint Research Centre of the Spanish National Research Council and the Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain
- Latin American and Caribbean Hub for TIP
- National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation, Panama
- The Research Council of Norway
- Transformative Innovation African Hub
- Transformative Innovation Policy European hub
- University of Sussex Business School
- United Nations Development Programme/ C3 Labs
- University of Pretoria
- Utrecht University Centre for Global Challenges
- United Nations Environment Programme Copenhagen Climate Centre
- VINNOVA, Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems
The dialogue marked an important milestone, providing space to reimagine TIPC’s role in an increasingly complex global policy landscape. Contributors reflected on the Consortium’s recent influence in shaping innovation policy for social and technological transitions, while examining emergent challenges and exploring potential pathways for the future — charting a shared vision and direction.
Reflecting on the Last Decade
Initiated in 2016, TIPC’s work has helped to strengthen the narrative and mechanisms for addressing sustainable development through innovation. It originally sought to create a protected space, in which researchers and policymakers could engage in deep learning, experimentation and action research, shielded from dominant practices driving business-as-usual.
Participants looked back on progress during Phases I and II, revisiting key achievements and insights. Phase I focused on building a niche for Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) by establishing a shared narrative, building knowledge and practice networks, and learning through experimentation. Phase II revealed a broadening of the niche and mainstream adoption of the narrative, but also a need to embed learning and operationalise TIP within organisational and policy practice. Although TIP frameworks are now recognised tools for addressing global goals such as the SDGs, bolder experimentation and greater institutionalisation of learning are needed to activate the new knowledge and capabilities.
The TIP Resource Lab and regional hubs in Europe, Africa, and Latin America were acknowledged as important platforms for connecting theory and practice, providing infrastructure for experimentation and learning, and for scaling up action through global knowledge communities.
Adapting to a Changing Global Context
Throughout the discussions, participants emphasised the need to maintain TIPC’s focus on enquiry, experimentation and learning, while navigating the geopolitical tensions increasingly shaping the environment in which TIP operates.
Global shifts toward competitiveness, security and resilience are influencing science, technology and innovation priorities, threatening sustainability and transformation progress. Participants underlined the need for a new conception of sustainable competitiveness that depends on the capacity to build resilient and adaptive systems and aligns economic renewal with social and environmental value.
Key challenges were identified around implementation of TIP, with practitioners facing hardening resistance from incumbent actors, rules and mindsets. There is a need for TIP to engage with the implications of artificial intelligence, and to stand firm on the urgency of tackling systemic challenges such as climate change, digital transitions and social cohesion, in the face of drives for cost efficiency and short-term, more easily measured impacts.
Group discussions also revisited ongoing barriers for funders and agencies tasked with implementation, highlighting the need for new capacities to strengthen evaluation practices, deepen place-based approaches, explore new financing models, and keep transformative missions focused on long-term change.
Participants identified areas where new research questions are needed, including evaluation methods, metrics and indicators; transformative missions; new models for public-private collaboration on financing transformative change; and place-based transition dynamics –learning from the Global South, as well as from localised application of TIP in cities and regions.
Equitable Partnership
The meeting included a participatory workshop on the development of principles for equitable partnership in the years ahead. Members highlighted the importance of inclusivity, and knowledge sharing across collaborations. Building trust, creating space for reflection, actively addressing existing power imbalances, and acknowledging differences in capacities and contexts were seen as central to advancing TIPC’s mission.
Equitable partnership was identified as a core principle for the future, requiring continual effort, transparency, reflexivity and humility. Participants agreed that transformation can only happen through genuine collaboration and by making space for diverse perspectives, including those often underrepresented in research and policy spaces.
