Stem cell research has emerged as a state-level science and technology policy issue in recent years in the USA, with some states supporting research in the field and others choosing to restrict it. In this paper, we systematically explore the factors that are associated with US states' adoptions...

Drawing on the institutional analysis and development framework, this paper explores the likely influence of socio-economic issues on the processing of the application for the authorization for genetically modified wheat by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in the period 2002--4. As an...

Studies of institutional transformation in science have largely overlooked Big Science installations, despite far-reaching changes to the roles and functions of such large labs in the past decades. Here, we present and analyze two Big Science labs that have undergone profound transformations...

This paper explores some of the difficulties in accounting for the value of knowledge intermediation, focusing on two types of knowledge inter-mediators: science shops and knowledge brokers. We analyse the way in which actors themselves 'situate', and thus value, their work and practices....

Public sector environmental management involves complex and dynamic interactions between those responsible for the science, management and policy responsibilities of government. This paper presents the results of an exploratory study into the perspectives, experiences and understandings of...

This paper explores the role of intermediary organisations in the development of the 'bioeconomy'. Focusing on the strategies employed by UK funding agencies to coordinate research in the emerging field of synthetic biology, I explore the spatiality of contemporary science and research policy...

Knowledge governance opens new pathways for collective action and is especially suited for solving complex societal problems. This paper analyses knowledge governance in two ways. First, it presents an overview of the literature on this topic with a particular focus on the principles of...

Growing beyond the catch-up model of imitative innovations, Korea has considerably expanded its national R&D budget since the 1990s. However, the rapid expansion brought about a decentralization of the national R&D programs by competing ministries, thus raising significant concerns about...

The creation of academic spin-offs, which are new ventures exploiting knowledge and technologies generated in public research organizations, has become a central aspect of contemporary innovation policies. This paper examines the science/industry intermediation role of academic spin-offs by...

This special section analyses the practices and the performativity of intermediaries. Rather than conceiving intermediaries as agents that passively transfer knowledge and objects between the worlds of science, policy and the economy, the focus is on how they mobilise, reframe and structure...