Governing socio-technical change: Orchestrating demand for assisted living in ageing societies

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in innovation studies towards grand challenges, and in how demand-side policy instruments can supplement traditional supply-side policy measures. To contribute to an improved understanding of how demand-side policy requires new governance responses, this article presents a case study of trialling assisted living technologies to address the grand challenge of demographic ageing. The article departs from an innovation policy framework that incorporates theorising on transformational system failures, governance modes, and policy mixes. This framework serves as an entry point to explore how different modes of governance condition the ways in which demand for assisted living in healthcare is orchestrated across multiple stakeholders. The case study is embedded in a wider system shift from a reactive to a proactive system of healthcare provision, enabling the elderly to live independently at home longer and thus avoiding or postponing institutionalised care.