Fostering innovation in the construction industry

Rijkeboer, Marlies (2022) Fostering innovation in the construction industry. Master thesis.

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Abstract

Innovation is a multidimensional, global, dynamic and open activity which increases competitiveness, generates economic benefits, and improves the quality of living standards through the creation and adoption of innovative ideas and technologies. Growing environmental challenges encourage using innovation as a promising tool for transformative sustainable system change. In line with this, the goal for the Dutch economy is to be circular by the year 2050. Key in achieving this, is collaborative governance. Public, private and civic organizations work collectively, to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy. One of the five transition agendas to accomplish this, is assigned to the construction industry. The Dutch infrastructure construction industry is struggling with its lacking long-term perspective and its focus on individual phase results. The fragmented and linear project nature of construction projects forms a barrier to innovation. This is problematic since the Dutch construction sector accounts for 50% of the raw materials consumption, of which a large proportion is caused by waste from demolition. In combination with pressing environmental challenges, such as the Dutch nitrogen crisis, policymakers agree that the pace of circular innovation has to step up to create a more sustainable living environment. Unfortunately, the transformation from a linear towards a more circular construction sector requires a radical system change, opposing a challenge for policymakers and construction professionals. This challenge is fundamentally grounded in the fact, that a societal and academic knowledge gap exists in how innovative outcomes are developed and implemented in construction projects. Therefore, the research aim of this study is to explain how and which structural mechanisms in collaborative governance foster innovation. Structural mechanisms are connected and explained by the model of Carbonara & Pellegrino (2019), who developed a conceptual framework of the relationship between innovation and public-private partnerships (PPP), based on main streams of studies on innovation. This study extends current academic knowledge by using this model to explain structural mechanisms for innovation in other types of public-private collaborative governance models. Additionally, the influence of network management activities on the structural mechanisms of the network structure is studied based on the theoretical insights of Busscher et al. (2022), Klijn & Koppenjan (2006) and Warsen et al. (2019). A qualitative research methodology is applied by collecting data from documents and semi-structured interviews. The research design answers the research question ‘how do different structural mechanisms contribute to innovation in Dutch construction projects?’ through a comparative case study of four successful circular construction projects characterized by four different public-private collaborative governance models. The selected cases are Croeselaan Utrecht, bio-based cycling bridge Ritsumasyl, Circular Viaduct Kampen and InnovA58 Living Lab. Findings reveal that early private sector involvement, mutual trust among actors and investing in network management activities, such as facilitating interaction and exploring for new ideas, adapted to the projects’ situation are crucial in achieving innovative outcomes. These results provide foundations for future planning practice implications for more sustainable and innovative construction of future infrastructure.

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Degree programme:	Environmental & Infrastructure Planning
Supervisor:	Verweij, S.
Date Deposited:	04 Nov 2022 12:22
Last Modified:	07 Sep 2023 09:14
URI:	https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4066

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