Enacting Isomorphism in Europe

• In Event: STS Perspectives on Isomorphism in National Science and Innovation Policies

Abstract

Isomorphism is often portrayed as a somewhat mechanical process of pressures and constraints. It should probably be best understood as an unstable process of experimentation, emulation and adaptation, to a large extent driven by actors (academics, industrialists, state officials, and so on) affording visions of how other countries (and regions) deploy their resources, and animating political imaginaries on the basis of that. In my presentation, I will highlight who these actors are, the arenas in which they operate, and how policy formation and implementation have thus been shaped. The European Union and its science and innovation policies have been redeployed in the last decade, from a classical European corporatist template of subsidising R&D networks of large European firms to one which aims to nourish high tech clusters and star scientists. I will show how two global policy templates (large-scale programmes for new technologies [exemplified by the Future and Emerging Technologies programme] and elite support [i.e. The European Research Council]) have been understood and emulated in the European Union on the basis of a reading of the Chinese and US policy templates, and how ensuing policies have affected research practices in Europe.

Author

• Mats Benner, Lund University