The balance of change and continuity in the German construction sector’s development path

Abstract

Abstract Major deficits, known as innovation gap or renewal paradox, related to the project-based production structures in construction, result in high knowledge waste and efficiency loss. Current innovation dynamics aim at overcoming these structural disadvantages by designing products and services set apart from the one-off project logic. They are heavily influenced by cross-sectoral knowledge combinations coming from the automotive industry, the service sector, engineering or information and communication technology (ICT), as well as by knowledge combinations which stem from integrating different trades into the planning process of a construction project. This paper argues that different kinds of knowledge combinations initiate various degrees of change within the existing sectoral structures. They indicate the sector’s path plasticity.