Competing technological innovation systems as a challenge for new mission orientation - insights from the German Energiewende

In the past decade, a major feature of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy has been the widespread adoption of a new mission-oriented approach based on 'grand challenges'. The concept reflects the idea of putting societal challenges into the centre of contemporary STI policy choice and design. However, little is known about how this new orientation will challenge today's policy practices and which policy mechanisms will be needed to support the fulfilment of such a goal. In this article we interpret the 'grand challenges' approach as a competition between different but dependent technological innovation systems. Out of this perspective we present an analysis of the current German energy revolution (Energiewende) and explore the significance of interacting and competing technological innovation systems (TIS) for goal-oriented policies. Building on the functional approach for studying TIS and insights from the time-strategic approach, we demonstrate that the governance of competing TIS leads to specific new challenges for STI policy. Especially the monitoring of technological development stages, reflexive policies and dynamic instrument adjustments are newly becoming necessary and highly dynamic policy elements.