{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,15]],"date-time":"2026-02-15T00:08:03Z","timestamp":1771114083505,"version":"3.50.1"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"group-title":"SSRN","reference-count":78,"publisher":"Elsevier BV","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Transformative innovation policy has become central to the European Union\u2019s efforts to address global societal challenges using deep-tech innovation. However, how these policy-level expectations are translated into, and articulated with, ecosystem-level mobilization remains insufficiently understood. This paper adopts a multi-level, mixed-methods research design that integrates macro-level policy analysis, transition-level coordination mechanisms, and micro-level ecosystem dynamics within a policy-cycle perspective. It examines how EU transformative innovation policy shapes deep-tech innovation ecosystems and shows that, while societal and sustainability objectives are increasingly prominent in EU policy discourse, they are primarily articulated as ambitions instead of embedded as structuring governance conditions. As a result, coordination practices and performance outputs remain predominantly techno-economic. This configuration produces a systematic decoupling between societal ambitions and the operative mechanisms that structure ecosystem mobilization across macro, transition, and micro levels. Building on these findings, this study develops a conceptual framework of macro-micro coalescence, identifying six dimensions through which transformative policy objectives and ecosystem dynamics can become mutually constitutive. The paper contributes to research on transformative innovation policy and ecosystem governance by explaining why societal objectives often dissipate despite strong policy expectations, and by offering a framework to strengthen the transformative ability of deep-tech innovation policy, particularly in widening-country contexts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.6240109","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,14]],"date-time":"2026-02-14T23:42:18Z","timestamp":1771112538000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["From Expectations to Mobilization: Transformative Innovation Policy and Deep-Tech Ecosystems in the European Union"],"prefix":"10.2139","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2896-1826","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Maria  Eug\u00e9nia","family":"Leit\u00e3o","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7848-7574","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Ana","family":"Carvalho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4629-1723","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Miguel","family":"Amaral","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"78","reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1017\/S0007123414000593","article-title":"Two Logics of Indirect Governance: Delegation and Orchestration","volume":"46","author":"K W Abbott","year":"2016","journal-title":"British Journal of Political Science"},{"key":"ref2","author":"Ani","year":"2023","journal-title":"EIC ACCELERATOR: PORTUGAL IS THE SECOND COUNTRY WITH THE MOST APPROVED FUNDING. 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