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This chapter provides an overview of major challenges and open questions in the field of innovation research. Eight areas of enquiry are identified that each correspond with one of the parts of the edited volume. The chapter begins by discussing the notion of innovation as a concept and then highlights the interrelationship between innovation and institutions, as well as the interdependence of innovation and creativity. This is followed by three parts that target innovation as a social process: innovation, networking and communities; innovation in permanent spatial settings; and innovation in temporary and virtual settings. Finally, the relationships between innovation, entrepreneurship and market making and wider issues regarding the governance and management of innovation are discussed, followed by some remarks about the unique characteristics of the edited volume.

As an introduction to this book, this chapter provides insights on the evolution of innovation patterns, and in particular when dealing with sustainable issues. It highlights the relationship between territory and sustainable innovations and identifies the relationships that such innovations (re)build with territory, as well as the forms of localization that they induce. It presents the four dimensions of sustainable innovation identified in the case studies presented in the following chapters: product, institutional, territory and flagship dimensions. Finally the chapter concludes with some considerations on the innovative milieu concept in regard to the present context of innovation and territorial development.

Based on two case studies, this chapter studies the articulation between sustainable innovations and territories. Using the conventionalist approach, and in particular the idea of the sustainability convention, this chapter analyses the territorial, economic and social dynamics of sustainable innovations in Western Switzerland’s photovoltaic industry and sustainable finance. The main result is that, contrary to ‘classical milieus’ where the innovative efforts are mainly on the supply side, sustainable innovations redefine considerably the relations with consumers, users and even citizens. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the concept of innovative milieu and its cognitive, financial and discursive aspects.