Sustainability transition to a climate neutral economy requires the rapid development, testing and scaling of emerging technologies currently in their infancy. Carbon dioxide electrolysis is one such promising emerging technology to produce fossil-free fuels and chemicals for a sustainable chemical industry. This paper investigates enablers and barriers shaping this technology within a European context by combining a technological innovation system (TIS) lens with political economy perspectives. Evidence from over forty semi-structured interviews, policy documents, and an expert consultation workshop reveals a fast-emerging TIS enabled by R&D, legitimisation and advocacy of carbon capture and utilisation as an emission reduction pathway, and complementary technological developments. However, factors such as availability of renewable electricity and carbon dioxide, and a policy bias towards mature technologies to meet urgent emission reduction targets are barriers to its future development. The TIS in this early formative phase, is in a state of flux and vulnerable to shifts in actor strategies, which can result in discontinuities in the learning process. We identify a need for technology-specific policies to support iterative upscaling through long-term projects, encourage niche market formation and strategically manage knowledge. In contrast to the current fit and conform narrative dominated by cost comparison with fossil fuels, we propose a need to empower carbon dioxide electrolysis with a stronger stretch and transform framing by imagining its role in a carbon neutral economy. Our methodology complements existing techno-economic assessments by bringing forth a rich narrative of underlying innovation processes and offers important policy insights for governing emerging technology development.

Purpose: The objective of this paper is to develop a redesigned commissioning process for social care services that fosters integrated care, encourages collaboration and balances professional expertise with client engagement. Design/methodology/approach: This study employs a two-pronged approach: a case study of a municipality’s use of subsidy tables and a literature scoping review on integrated care research. Findings: The paper introduces a new framework for the study of the new “subsidy tables.” A well-defined and extensive consultation process involving both social care providers (suppliers), the Service Triad, and client representation adds to the existing research on supplier consultation, and on how to define the outcomes for clients via client engagement. Research limitations/implications: While aspects are clearly relevant to the Netherlands, the design of the commissioning process of social care has international relevance as well: finding definitions, formulating outcomes and incentives, designing a more collaborative instead of competitive process, stakeholder engagement and consultation. Practical implications: Several Dutch municipalities started using the “subsidy tables” method for commissioning integrated social care. This paper offers clear improvements that benefit the commissioners, the social care providers and their clients. Social implications: Improving the commissioning process of integrated social care will lead to better fitting care for people who need social care. Originality/value: This paper is one of the first to do a thorough analysis of the “subsidy tables” method for commissioning integrated social care.

Urban water systems worldwide need integrated, cross-sectoral innovations to anticipate developments like climate change and population growth. Development and implementation of such innovations is challenging due to the operational and sectoral mindset of organizations in which these innovations take place. This study uses the concept of ambidexterity to get a better understanding of how organizations responsible for urban water management deal with the tension between operation and the need for innovation. We focused on Amsterdam and Rotterdam, two Dutch cities that are global frontrunners in urban water management. Combining a desk study with 25 semi-structured interviews, we found four mechanisms to manage innovation and operation tensions: network, hierarchical, process and human-resource mechnanisms. Different from the literature on ambidexterity, our empirical findings show that the connection between operation and innovation is dominated by networks rather than by executives. Hierarchical mechanisms could be used to complement this, catalyzing innovation or formalizing it.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue on humans, algorithms and data. The authors first set themselves the task of identifying the main challenges arising from the adoption and use of algorithms and data analytics in management, accounting and organisations in general, many of which have been described in the literature. Design/methodology/approach: This paper builds on previous literature and case studies of the application of algorithm logic with artificial intelligence as an exemplar of this innovation. Furthermore, this paper is triangulated with the findings of the papers included in this special issue. Findings: Based on prior literature and the concepts set out in the papers published in this special issue, this paper proposes a conceptual framework that can be useful both in the analysis and ordering of the algorithm hype, as well as to identify future research avenues. Originality/value: The value of this framework, and that of the papers in this special issue, lies in its ability to shed new light on the (neglected) connections and relationships between algorithmic applications, such as artificial intelligence. The framework developed in this piece should stimulate scholars to explore the intersections between “technical” as well as organisational, social and individual issues that algorithms should help us tackle.

A novel fermentation process was developed in which renewable electricity is indirectly used as an energy source in fermentation, synergistically decreasing both the consumption of sugar as a first generation carbon source and emission of the greenhouse gas CO₂. As an illustration, a glucose-based process is co-fed with formic acid, which can be generated by capturing CO₂ from fermentation offgas followed by electrochemical reduction with renewable electricity. This “closed carbon loop” concept is demonstrated by a case study in which cofeeding formic acid is shown to significantly increase the yield of biomass on glucose of the industrially relevant yeast species Yarrowia lipolytica. First, the optimal feed ratio of formic acid to glucose is established using chemostat cultivations. Subsequently, guided by a dynamic fermentation process model, a fed-batch protocol is developed and demonstrated on laboratory scale. Finally, the developed fed-batch process is tested and proven to be scalable at pilot scale. Extensions of the concept are discussed to apply the concept to anaerobic fermentations, and to recycle the O₂ that is co-generated with the formic acid to aerobic fermentation processes for intensification purposes.

Climate change and urbanization, as well as growing environmental and economic concerns, highlight the limitations of traditional wastewater practices and thereby challenge the management of urban water systems. Both in theory and in practice, it has been widely acknowledged that the challenges of the twenty-first century require solutions that address problems in a more integrated way. Although the demand for integration is obvious, implementation has proved challenging because of the complexity and uncertainty involved. In addition, the urban water literature contains a wide diversity of approaches to integration, each contribution having its own understanding of the term, as well as how to deal with the complexity that comes with it. In this article, we take a first step in supporting both decision-making and decision-makers in urban water systems integration. First, we work towards a more comprehensive perspective on integration in urban water management; one that uses and structures the variety of existing approaches. In so doing, we introduce a typology of urban water systems integration that distinguishes between geographical, physical, informational, and project-based forms. Second, we explore the implications that such integrated solutions bring for decision-makers. They will be faced with additional uncertainty arising (1) at the interfaces of previously unconnected systems and (2) from the social and institutional changes that systems integration requires. Finally, we draft three decision-making challenges that come with integration and provide some possibilities for dealing with them.

Platform market competition has been extensively researched, but the governance of the platform development process prior to market launch has received little attention. We develop a system dynamics simulation model using the avalanche game as a metaphor for platform development. We describe a typical platform development process, and show how this process corresponds to the game. To examine the role of incentives for consensus building in platform development, we extend the original simulation model of the avalanche game using literature on platform development. This provides insights about how platform governance incentives influence the platform development process. Specifically, we find that under high degrees of urgency, consensus is achieved more quickly when a greater number of participants are involved in a standards committee. We explain this counterintuitive notion by making use of the literature on decision-making in networks of interdependencies.

Decision-making on changes to large infrastructural systems is complex. It involves many actors, the system shows unpredictable behaviour and the environment in which decision-making takes place is dynamic. In a unique development case of the Dutch railway sector two decision-making processes regarding the same issue are performed in two consecutive years. Although, from a technical perspective, the elements of the processes are similar, the decisions in each year are different. In this paper, we use game concepts to explain the different outcomes. Other frequently adopted decision-based models that focus on the technical perspective do not distinguish between both processes. Game concepts are able to reveal the hidden actor and context dynamics of the process and provide action perspective. To identify the game concepts present in the decision-making process, we first consider whether these concepts are mentioned in interviews with decision-makers in our case. Thereafter, we interpret the processes using the identified game concepts. The fact that, in the second year, more external issues are discussed and pressure increased created room for another decision.

China has gone through a rapid process of urbanization, but this has come along with serious environmental problems. Therefore, it has started to develop various eco-cities, low-carbon cities, and other types of sustainable cities. The massive launch of these sustainable initiatives, as well as the higher cost of these projects, requires the Chinese government to invest large sums of money. What financial toolkits can be employed to fund this construction has become a critical issue. Against this backdrop, the authors have selected Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (SSTEC) and Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City (ILCC) and compared how they finance their construction. Both are thus far considered to be successful cases. The results show that the two cases differ from each other in two key aspects. First, ILCC has developed a model with less financial and other supports from the Chinese central government and foreign governments than SSTEC, and, hence, may be more valuable as a source of inspiration for other similar projects for which political support at the national level is not always available. Second, by issuing bonds in the international capital market, SSTEC singles itself out among various sustainable initiatives in China, while planning the village area as a whole and the metro plus property model are distinct practices in ILCC. In the end, the authors present a generic financing model that considers not only economic returns but also social and environmental impacts to facilitate future initiatives to finance in more structural ways.

Getting what you want - even if you are the boss - isn’t always easy. Almost every organization, big or small, works among a network of competing interests. Whether it’s governments pushing through policies, companies trying to increase profits, or even families deciding where to move house, rarely can decisions be made in isolation from competing interests both within the organization and outside it. In this accessible and straightforward account, Hans de Bruijn and Ernst ten Heuvelhof cast light on multi-stakeholder decision-making. Using plain language, they reveal the nuts and bolts of decision-making within the numerous dilemmas and tensions at work. Drawing on a diverse range of illustrative examples throughout, their perceptive analysis examines how different interests can either support or block change, and the strategies available for managing a variety of stakeholders. The second edition of Management in Networks incorporates a wider spread of international cases, a new chapter giving an overview of different network types, and a new chapter looking at digital governance and the impact of big data on networks. This insightful text is invaluable reading for students of management and organizational studies, plus practitioners - or actors - operating in a range of contexts.

Cybersecurity is a global phenomenon representing a complex socio-technical challenge for governments, but requiring the involvement of individuals. Although cybersecurity is one of the most important challenges faced by governments today, the visibility and public awareness remains limited. Almost everybody has heard of cybersecurity, however, the urgency and behaviour of persons do not reflect high level of awareness. The Internet is all too often considered as a safe environment for sharing information, transactions and controlling the physical world. Yet, cyberwars are already ongoing, and there is an urgent need to be better prepared. The inability to frame cybersecurity has resulted in a failure to develop suitable policies. In this paper, we discuss the challenges in framing policy on cybersecurity and offer strategies for better communicating cybersecurity. Communicating cybersecurity is confronted with paradoxes, which has resulted in society not taking appropriate measures to deal with the threats. The limited visibility, socio-technological complexity, ambiguous impact and the contested nature of fighting cybersecurity complicates policy-making. Framing using utopian or dystopian views might be counterproductive and result in neglecting evidence. Instead, we present evidence-based framing strategies which can help to increase societal and political awareness of cybersecurity and put the issues in perspective.