4. How Rationales, Actors and Multi-Level Governance Relate to Innovation Policy-Mix

Findings: On multi-rationales we argue that theories and the policy rationales from which they claim legitimacy are less explanatory of policies than concepts-ideas or evidence-based policy. On Multi-actors: I argue that there is today a wider diversity of actors and stakeholders that want to participate in the policy of “conception–implementation” cycle and that this calls for new forms of governance enabling higher and wider participatory governance. Also calls for a need to differentiate policy instruments according to policy targets. There is a need to consider the set of policies and instruments chosen (or not chosen), together with the interactions and interdependencies between policies (as they may affect such intended outcomes). We also find that there has not been enough research into policy dimensions such as policy-mixes, dynamic targeting or changing policy-mixes over time as this discussion needs to be done in relation to intended policy outcomes in a complex multi-rational, multi-actor, multi-governance setting and in a temporally distributed frame.