Sectoral innovation policy adopting socio-technical systems (STS) perspectives: The case of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in five leading countries

The advent of the so-called “Fourth Industrial Revolution” technologies has led to increased use of policy to support innovation in particular sectors of emerging technologies; however, limited academic research has been conducted on such sectoral innovation policy. As greater understanding is required of the socio-technical contexts in which such policies are implemented, this study develops a conceptual framework based on the socio-technical systems (STS) perspective. Together with the concept of innovation policy instrument mixes, the proposed framework allows for more effective design and analysis of sector-specific innovation policy for emerging technologies that have high societal impact. The framework is then used in a comparative case study of the autonomous vehicle (AV) sector across five leading countries through a comprehensive review of policy documents. The case study revealed similarities and differences in AV policy across countries, demonstrating the need for sectoral innovation policy that is more tailored in specific socio-technical contexts. The study also provides practical guidelines for innovation policy to support other emerging high-tech sectors. The increasing complexity of policy mixes results in challenges of policy coordination and evaluation hence, policy patching can be a more realistic and beneficial strategy than policy packaging.