ABSTRACT
Human future is at stake due to the increasing intensity of climate change, global armed conflicts, and other social and ecological issues. Researchers, innovators, and policymakers frequently propose different types of innovations as potential solutions to these social and ecological issues and as the pathway to a better human future. Following the emerging scholarly attention to the role of the public policy environment in determining the direction and development of innovations, this article analyzes how the public policy context, embedded with the moral values and collective visions for the future of society, may impact the development and directions of innovations with two empirical cases regarding the reproductive health service in Taiwan and the school gardening in the Philippines. We point out that the legal and regulatory environment provides a framework that has shaped the development of the local/transnational ARTs market in Taiwan and affected the day-to-day practices of medical practitioners at the clinical level. We also reveal that two particular policy visions – the well-nourished community and youth as the future of farming lead to the policy support of school gardening and specific types of innovations. Overall, these two cases both demonstrate complex “innovation systems” that comprise of more than one kinds of innovations and other social arrangements such as legal status, eco-nomic potentials, or cultural values. Furthermore, the comparison of these two cases also suggests the importance of the policy environment, especially values and visions embedded in these policies, and challenges the assumption that innovation is merely a linear process of technological breakthrough.
