La construction de la fonction de production de connaissance du Système d’Innovation Technologique du Carburant Durable pour l’Aviation : une analyse des projets de recherche européens[The building of the knowledge development function within the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Technological Innovation System: an analysis of European research projects]

Several recent studies on the Technological Innovation System seek to understand the processes underlying the construction of the system. In this article, we explain that two types of process exist: on the one hand, Strategic System Building arising from a proactive approach by System Builders; on the other hand, a process known as Emergent System Formation, in which it is the structural properties of the initial system which, through an organic process, enable agents to develop the system via their spontaneous interactions. We postulate that these two processes may co-exist or follow one another over time for each of the functions traditionally studied within the TIS. We then evaluate this hypothesis with regard to the function of knowledge development and diffusion within the Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) TIS. We analyse 55 research projects on SAFs, involving 442 participants and funded by the European Union between 2008 and 2024. Using a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative analysis and social network analysis, we show that the four periods of development of this function initially rely on a Strategic System Building process, which wanes in the following period, before an Emergence Formation System process takes over. One of the article’s contributions is to propose indicators to characterise these processes when there is a large volume of data to process.