The dynamics of transitions and system innovations : A transformation route in the transition from horse - and - carriage to automobiles

Transitions and system innovations promise great improvements in environmental efficiency. To facilitate policy making, it is important to understand their dynamics. This paper develops a conceptual perspective to understand how transitions and system innovations come about. System innovations not only involve technological changes, but also changes in user practices, regulation, industry networks, infrastructure, symbolic meaning. To understand the dynamics of system innovations, this paper describes a multi-disciplinary perspective, based on insights from evolutionary economics, sociology of technology, and innovation studies. The transition perspective is illustrated with a historical case-study: the transition from horse-and-carriages to cars in the United States (1860-1930). The case-study also leads to further refinement of the perspective, the identification of a particular transformation route in transitions.