The impact of clashing clockspeeds on innovation in the energy sector

The green transition requires increasing innovation from companies, including innovation in energy utilities. However, there is a critical mismatch between the speed of the green transition in industry and the approaching tipping point of no return in the climate crisis. Despite this, the current understanding of how utilities undergo innovation is limited, with a critical lack of clarity in how the multiplicity of rates of change, that is, clockspeeds, across the energy ecosystem impact innovation. This paper builds on a single case study of a distribution system operator (DSO) and relates clashes in clockspeeds to a lack of shared understanding and subsequent innovation. On this basis, this study makes three main contributions: First, it provides a novel description of how the interaction between multiple clockspeeds shapes innovation in the energy sector. Second, it demonstrates how clashing clockspeeds impact critical aspects of shared understanding. Finally, it provides an explanation of how this significantly impacts the innovation required for the green transition.