Transitions are a consistent topic in everyday life, whether we recognize them or not, we and our surroundings constantly change. A transition can be looked at from different perspectives, one being the characteristic of a ‘critical’ transition, meaning that the system state shifts abruptly from one state to the other. Critical transitions are therefore an interesting phenomenon, since the outcome is often very different to the initial starting point. 

Innovation is a current key-topic, especially in regards to policy making, economy and climate change related aspects. Innovations are new ideas that shift behaviour or use cases, and how and why this happens is oftentimes complex and not easily foreseeable. 

Bridging the concept of critical transitions and innovations allows to investigate abrupt changes in the context of emerging and new technologies. To this end the following speakers have been invited to give their insights to the COLIBRI DocDay topic ‘Critical Transitions in Innovation’ and to establish a ground for discussion and new perspectives: