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The need to align the capacities of societies to innovate with grand challenges they face is increasingly recognised in various levels of research and policymaking. Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP) proposes an approach to address these grand challenges through STI, combining insights from sustainability transitions literature and innovation studies. As a concept, TIP is envisioned to be able to provide enough granularity to understand systems transitions, and at the same time, operationalizability to be used by advocates and policy makers.

Central to this concept is the notion of “transformation” which encompasses different scales, spaces and actor groups. It refers to ongoing, systemic transformations, irrespective of whether it is goaldriven and purposefully induced. The governance of transformation processes should be a way of organizing diversity of actors, practices and pathways. The state, in its different forms, can play an important role in steering, guiding and facilitating transformations, managing directionality and the interests of different stakeholders. There is no single answer of what kind state is required to enable transformations, as it will depend on local political cultures and the role of STI in each context.