Orchestrating Innovation Network: Case of Sustainable Transportation Technology

Currently, the transportation sectors are heading into the advancement of sustainable transportation technology to tackle the issue of unsustainable transportation system which leads to various drawbacks in the future. One of the innovation in sustainable transportation technology is the development of electric vehicle (EV). However, there are noticeable difference between sustainable transportation system and conventional transportation system that requires a massive and synchronous network of related stakeholders to keep innovating and catch up with the progression. On the other side, transportation sector is one of the sector with the massive development that has the consequences of high risk and uncertainty, which leads to the tendency of innovation avoidance. Therefore, the innovation network of EV needs to be nurtured to ensure its sustainability. From the previous study on various sectors, the innovation strategy focuses on two matters: innovation target and actor integration. The latter purpose is required to be conducted in an inclusive manner by engaging people from inside or outside the organization. In the case of innovation in sustainable transportation, the vertical approach plays a significant role in terms of fostering technological advancement. The main solution to reach this objective is through the well-established research ecosystem, which significantly supported by R&D investment by the government. The government takes the role of the innovation strategy implementer to establish a strong research network. Besides as the R&D funder and the hub between researcher and industry, the government also take a role to keep the dynamics of an ecosystem through interaction stimulation, while also engage the innovation results to be relevant with the social, technological, environmental, and economic problems. Moreover, the research center also takes an important role in the ecosystem, such as to engage reiteratively with the industry, become the open-innovation enabler, have the dedicated research agenda, become the multidisciplinary innovation enabler, collaborate with multi-stakeholders, has core research infrastructure, and become the innovation cultural hub. While the country’s industrialization demand keep rising, the research center could consistently become the intermediaries in conducting the research and build the relationship with other non-industry actor. This way, the high risk and uncertainty of innovation could be reduced.