The Role of Key Actors in the Emergence of a Strategic Innovation Programme: A Translation Process Perspective

The ability to innovate and adapt to change is of central importance at all levels of society today. In this article, a strategic innovation programme (SIP) in the Swedish construction industry is addressed as a vehicle to facilitate system-wide innovation and change. Based on the need to further understand how to deliver industry-level innovation, and an identified scarcity of studies addressing the role key actors have in establishing a SIP, the aim is to analyse and describe how a strategic innovation programme is established and what role key actors play in this process. Theoretically, the study draws inspiration from actor-network theory (ANT) and especially the translation process, which previous studies have shown to be suitable to understand the challenges involved when mobilizing a network of heterogeneous actors. Empirically, the study is based on a qualitative approach and consists of 11 semi-structured interviews with individuals active in the early stages and the development of a SIP. In the article, a number of actor groups are identified and followed through what can be described as two cycles of translation, where one actor group is trying to make itself a ‘legitimate spokesperson’ for the emerging SIP. The analysis shows, for example, how the problematization of structural changes, digitalization, and industrialization enables the mentioned actor group to successfully translate the interests of other actors into an obligatory passage point (OPP). Apart from providing an understanding of the role that different actor groups play in the becoming of an innovation programme, the study also shows how it is not primarily the actors in the construction industry who are conservative; instead, there is an inertia in the system that complicates a collaborative development of innovations in the industry.