This research group examines how governments and public institutions navigate, shape, and are transformed by technological and societal change. As both emerging technologies - ranging from artificial intelligence to green and biotechnologies - and established ones such as IT systems, energy, and mobility infrastructures continue to shape and reshape economies and social life, public administration finds itself at the centre of balancing innovation, legitimacy, and accountability.

Our discussions focus on how public governance can foster and regulate innovation responsibly while ensuring that technological change serves broad societal goals within and beyond the public sector. Key questions include: How can administrations steer complex socio-technical transitions amid uncertainty and contestation? What kinds of institutional arrangements and decision-making processes enable experimentation without losing democratic oversight? How can public organizations reconcile competing demands - efficiency and inclusion, openness and security, innovation and stability - that emerge with socio- technical transitions? What policy and organizational strategies should public institutions adopt to advance strategic technological autonomy?

This research group provides a forum for exploring these dilemmas through diverse theoretical and empirical lenses. We are interested in contributions that address the politics of technology, innovation capabilities, policy design, public sector reform, co-creation and experimentation, foresight and learning systems, maintenance of old technological systems, and the social and ethical dimensions of emerging technologies. Work that draws connections across sectors and regions, or that questions dominant assumptions about progress and modernization, is especially welcome.

The group is chaired by Rainer Kattel, Veiko Lember, and Peeter Vihma, whose research collectively spans public sector innovation, technology and industrial policy, and environmental governance. Their work highlights how public institutions engage with innovation in practice through, for example, procurement, digital transformation, policy experimentation, and the governance of socio-technical change. Together, they bring complementary perspectives on how public administration can understand and shape technological development in ways that are adaptive, accountable, and socially grounded.