More than a techno-fix? Examining the role of innovation in sustainability discourses of international organisations

Innovation has become a central theme in sustainability discourses. Sustainability research typically argues that technological and social innovation must combine to enable socio-ecological transformations. Scholarship in science and technology studies (STS), as well as work on socio-technical transitions, similarly shows that technological and social changes are deeply intertwined. Against this background, the project explores how leading international organisations (IOs) engage the critical question of innovation for sustainability. To this end, the project combines quantitative and qualitative methods of discourse analysis to publicly available reports from eight IOs with different specialisations: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Bank. The project considers reports published by these IOs between 2000 and 2022 and examines the role of technology and innovation in those documents. The goal is to identify discursive shifts concerning the role that different IOs assign to innovation and innovation policy in sustainability governance over time. Thereby, the project contributes much-needed comparative insights into how contemporary IOs envisage solutions for the entrenched and further intensifying sustainability crisis.

Ansprechpartner: Wiertz T
Email: thilo.wiertz@geographie.uni-freiburg.de

Projektbeginn: 2023
Projektende: 2024

Kranke M, , Wiertz T

Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Institut für Umweltsozialwissenschaften und Geographie

Schreiberstraße 20
79098 Freiburg i. Br.

Telefon: 203 - 3563
Email: humangeo@geographie.uni-freiburg.de
http://www.geographie.uni-freiburg.de/de

Gefördert von: Young Academy for Sustainability Research Fördersumme: 2.600 €

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