Innovation Studies Utrecht (ISU)
Working Paper Series
The working paper series Innovation Studies Utrecht includes working papers authored or
co-authored by members of the Section of Innovation Studies of Utrecht University.
For information or problems
accessing the papers please contact Gaston Heimeriks.
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2017 |
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2017
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#17.03
#17.02
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Karla
Münzel, Wouter Boon, Koen Frenken, Jan Blomme and Dennis van der Linden Explaining Carsharing
Diffusion Across Western European Cities Karla Münzel, Wouter Boon,
Koen Frenken and Taneli Vaskelainen |
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Carsharing Business Models in Germany: Characteristics, Success
and Future Prospects |
#17.01
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Koen Frenken |
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Political Economies
and Environmental Futures for the Sharing Economy |
2016
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#16.05
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Matthijs Janssen |
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What bangs for your bucks? Assessing the design and
impact of transformative policy |
#16.04
#16.03
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Koen Frenken and Juliet Schor Putting the sharing economy into perspective Iris Wanzenböck |
#16.02
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Lars Böcker and Toon Meelen
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#16.01
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Koen
Frenken |
2015
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#15.05
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Frank
van Rijnsoever |
#15.04
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Kristin
Reichardt, Simona O. Negro, Karoline S. Rogge, Marko P. Hekkert |
Analyzing interdependencies
between policy mixes and technological innovation systems:
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#15.03
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Maikel
Kishna, Eva Niesten, Simona Negro and Marko Hekkert |
#15.02
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Gerben
W. de Vries, Wouter Boon and Alexander Peine |
#15.01
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Magda
Smink, Joost Koch, Eva Niesten, Simona Negro and
Marko Hekkert |
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2014
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#14.04
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Julia Planko, Jacqueline Cramer, Maryse Chappin, and
Marko Hekkert |
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Strategic collective system building by firms who
launch sustainability innovations |
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#14.03
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Roel
Nahuis and Ellen Moors |
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The inertia of a use regime. Why a celiac disease pill
is conceived but not embraced |
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#14.02
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Andrea Herrmann and Kim van
der Putten |
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Unravelling start-up processes with the help of
sequence analyses |
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#14.01
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Magda
Smink, Simona Negro and Marko Hekkert |
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How mismatching institutional logics frustrate
sustainability transitions |
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2013
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#13.04
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Jarno
Hoekman and Koen Frenken |
#13.03
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Onder
Nömaler, Koen Frenken and
Gaston Heimeriks |
#13.02
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Alexander
Peine and Ellen Moors |
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Valuing health technology – new value spaces for
personal health systems to support active ageing |
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#13.01
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Alexander
van der Vooren and Eric Brouillat |
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Evaluating
CO2 reduction policy portfolios in the automotive sector |
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2012
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#12.05
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Anna
Wieczorek, Robert Harmsen, Gaston Heimeriks, Simona Negro, Marko Hekkert |
#12.04
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Anna
Wieczorek, Simona Negro, Robert Harmsen, Gaston Heimeriks, Lin Luo, Marko Hekkert |
#12.03
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Jan
Faber, Jaco van Dijk en Frank van Rijnsoever |
#12.02
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Alexander Peine, Ingo Rollwagen
and Louis Neeven |
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Exploring new patterns of user involvement – baby
boomers and the future of consumption |
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#12.01
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Frank
van Rijnsoever, Marius Meeus and Roger Donders |
2011 |
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#11.09
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Toon Meelen and Jacco Farla |
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Towards an integrated framework for sustainable
innovation policy |
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#11.08
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Anna
Wieczorek and Marko Hekkert |
#11.07
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Magda
Smink, Marko Hekkert, and Simona Negro |
#11.06
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Simona Negro, Floortje Alkemade, and Marko Hekkert |
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Why does Renewable Energy diffuse so slowly? A review of
innovation system problems. |
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#11.04
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Sjoerd
Bakker, Harro van Lente, and Marius Meeus |
#11.03
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Harro
van Lente, Charlotte Spitters, and Alexander Peine |
#11.02
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Gaston
Heimeriks |
#11.01
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Floortje Alkemade, Simona Negro, Neil Thompson and
Marko Hekkert |
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Towards a micro-level explanation of sustainability
transitions: entrepreneurial strategies |
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2010
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#10.04
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Sjoerd
Bakker, Harro van Lente and Remko Engels |
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Competition in a technological niche: the cars of the
future |
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#10.03
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Neil Thompson and Erik Stam |
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Macroeconomic Dynamics and Innovation: SME
innovation in the Netherlands, 1999-2009 |
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#10.02
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Laurens K. Hessels, John Grin,
Ruud E.H.M. Smits |
#10.01
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W.P.C. Boon, E.H.M. Moors, H.G.M. Leufkens |
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Patient advocacy and articulation of expectations
about pharmaceutical innovations |
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2009
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#09.16
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Gaston
Heimeriks |
#09.15
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Sjoerd
Bakkers, Harro van Lente and Marius Meeus |
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The
Emergence of a Dominant Design – a study on hydrogen prototypes |
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#09.14 |
Sjoerd
Bakker |
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#09.13 |
Barbara van
Mierlo, Cees Leeuwis, Ruud Smits and Rosalinde Klein Woolthuis |
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Learning towards system innovation. Evaluating a systemic instrument. |
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#09.12 |
Anna J.
Wieczorek, Marko P. Hekkert and Ruud Smits |
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Contemporary innovation policy and instruments: challenges and
implications |
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#09.11 |
Jacco Farla, Floortje Alkemade and Roald A. A. Suurs |
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Analysis of barriers in the transition toward sustainable mobility in
the Netherlands |
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#09.10 |
Roald A. A. Suurs, Marko
P. Hekkert and Ruud Smits |
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#09.09 |
Roald A. A. Suurs, Marko P. Hekkert, Sander Kieboom and Ruud Smits |
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#09.08 |
Floortje Alkemade
and Marko P. Hekkert |
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Development paths for emerging innovation systems: implications for
environmental innovations |
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#09.07 |
Frank J. van
Rijnsoever, Jacco Farla and Martin J. Dijst |
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#09.06 |
Frank J. van
Rijnsoever, Martin J. Dijst and
Carolina Castaldi |
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Involvement and use of multiple search channels in the automobile
purchase process |
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#09.05 |
Floris J. Huétink, Alexander van der Vooren and
Floortje Alkemade |
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Initial infrastructure development strategies for the transition to
sustainable mobility |
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#09.04 |
Simona
O. Negro, Véronique Vasseur, Wilfried G.J.H.M. van Sark and Marko P.
Hekkert |
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Understanding innovation system build up: The rise
and fall of the Dutch PV Innovation System |
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#09.03 |
Ellen
H.M. Moors and Rogier Donders |
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#09.02 |
Roel
Nahuis |
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The distribution of decision-making. The case of a flexible public transport system |
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#09.01 |
Roel
Nahuis, Ellen H.M. Moors and Ruud Smits |
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2008 |
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#08.21
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Alexander
Peine |
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Frank
J. van Rijnsoever |
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Opinion leaders in the domain of consumer
electronics and their use of external search channels |
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#08.19 |
Sjoerd
Bakker, Harro van Lente and Marius Meeus |
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#08.18 |
Alexander Peine |
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The sources of use knowledge – towards a framework
about use, consumption and industrial dynamics |
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#08.17 |
Frank J. van
Rijnsoever and Carolina Castaldi |
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#08.16 |
Laurens
K. Hessels, Harro van Lente and Ruud Smits |
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In search of relevance: The changing contract
between science and society |
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#08.15 |
Albert Faber and Koen Frenken |
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#08.14 |
Frank
J. van Rijnsoever, Laurens K. Hessels and Rens L.J. Vandeberg |
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A resource-based view on the interactions of
university researchers |
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#08.13 |
Simona O. Negro, Marko P. Hekkert and Ruud Smits |
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Stimulating renewable energy technologies by
innovation policy |
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#08.12 |
Malte Schwoon, Floortje Alkemade, Koen
Frenken and Marko P. Hekkert |
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#08.11 |
Roel
Nahuis |
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#08.10 |
Marko
P. Hekkert and Simona O. Negro |
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#08.09 |
Roel
Nahuis |
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The politics of displacements.
Towards a framework for democratic evaluation |
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#08.08 |
Simona
O. Negro and Marko P. Hekkert |
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#08.07 |
Carolina Castaldi and Bart Los |
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The identification of important innovations using tail estimators |
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#08.06 |
Rens L.J.
Vandeberg and Ellen H.M. Moors |
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A framework for interactive
learning in emerging technologies |
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#08.05 |
Quirine
van Voorst tot Voorst, Ruud Smits and John van den Elst |
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Standardisation Processes in China and the
European Union Explained by Regional Innovation Systems |
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#08.04 |
Roald A.A. Suurs and Marko P. Hekkert |
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#08.03 |
Laurens
K. Hessels and Harro van Lente |
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Re-thinking new knowledge production: A literature review and a
research agenda |
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#08.02 |
Frank
J. van Rijnsoever and Carolina Castaldi |
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Knowledge base, information search and intention to adopt innovation |
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#08.01 |
Ruud
Smits, Rutger van Merkerk, David H. Guston and Daniel Sarewitz |
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#08.01
(PDF)
Ruud Smits,
Rutger van Merkerk, David H. Guston and Daniel Sarewitz
The role of TA in Systemic Innovation Policy
Starting from the perception of innovation as a multi
actor, multi level strategic game, this paper addresses the role of strategic
intelligence, more in particular of TA, in systemic innovation policies. First the
history of TA in the US and Europe over the last 4 decades are described and
its role in innovation policies discussed. Hereafter the role and (possible)
impact of strategic intelligence and systemic innovation policies is analysed.
Two recent cases of Constructive TA are used to illustrate how this role is
operationalised. The paper is concluded with conclusions on how strategic
intelligence may further reinforce systemic innovation policies. Special
attention is paid to the role of strategic intelligence in empowering users and
other non traditional actors in innovation processes.
#08.02
(PDF)
Frank van Rijnsoever and Carolina Castaldi
Knowledge base, information search
and intention to adopt innovation
Innovation is a process that involves searching for
new information. This paper builds upon theoretical insights on individual and
organizational learning and proposes a knowledge based model of how actors
search for information when confronted with innovation. The model takes into
account different search channels, both local and non local, and relates their
use to the knowledge base of actors. The paper also provides an empirical
validation of our model based on a study on the search channels used by a
sample of Dutch consumers when buying new consumer electronic products.
#08.03
(PDF)
Laurens K. Hessels and Harro van Lente
Re-thinking knowledge production: a
literature review and a research agenda
This paper offers a systematic reflection on the
Gibbons-Nowotny notion of ‘Mode 2 knowledge production’. We review its
reception in scientific literature and compare it with 8 alternative diagnoses
of changing science systems. The ‘Mode 2’ diagnosis identifies a number of
important trends that require further empirical effort, but it suffers from
severe conceptual problems. It is time to untie its five major constitutive
claims and investigate each separately.
This working paper is now published as:
Laurens K. Hessels and Harro van Lente (2008),
Re-thinking new knowledge production: A literature review and a research
agenda, Research Policy 37,
pp.740–760
#08.04
(PDF)
Roald A.A. Suurs
and Marko P. Hekkert
Cumulative causation in the
formation of a technological innovation system: The case of biofuels in the
Netherlands
Despite its worldwide success, the innovation systems approach
is often criticized for being theoretically underdeveloped. This article aims
to contribute to the conceptual and methodical basis of the (technological)
innovation systems approach. We propose an alteration that improves the
analysis of dynamics, especially with respect to emerging innovation systems.
We do this by expanding on the technological innovation systems and system
functions literature, and by employing the method of 'event history analysis'.
By mapping events, the interactions between system functions and their
development over time can be analysed. Based on this it becomes possible to
identify forms of positive feedback, i.e. cumulative causation. As an
illustration of the approach, we assess the biofuels innovation system in The
Netherlands as it evolved from 1990 to 2005.
This working paper is now published as:
Roald A.A. Suurs and Marko P. Hekkert. 2009. Cumulative causation in the
formation of a technological innovation system: The case of biofuels in the
Netherlands. Technological Forecasting
& Social Change (In press. Available online).
#08.05 (PDF)
Quirine
van Voorst tot Voorst, Ruud Smits and John van den Elst
Standardisation Processes in China and
the European Union explained by Regional Innovation Systems
Standardisation processes and policies demand
increased attention due to their contribution to enterprise competitiveness and
relation to trade barriers. However, standardisation differs considerably per
region. In order to investigate these differences in more detail, the
standardisation processes for digital terrestrial television in China and the
European Union are compared in terms of actors involved, their roles and
relations, and the institutions governing standardisation processes. The
structure and underlying dynamics of these regional innovation systems are
analysed and compared. The analysis is based on a set of functions describing
the underlying dynamics of both systems. For every step in the standardisation
process, the influence of innovation functions, actors and institutions is
listed and evaluated in detail. Based on the results major differences between
standardisation processes in China and the European Union are identified. It
further will be pointed out that these differences can be related to major
differences in the institutional set up and dynamics of the related innovation
systems.
#08.06
(PDF)
Rens L.J. Vandeberg and Ellen H.M. Moors
A framework for interactive learning in
emerging technologies
Innovation is an interactive
learning process which is of special interest for emerging technologies in
which complex complementary knowledge from heterogeneous stakeholders is combined. In the
emerging phase of technology development a lot of knowledge is tacit and can
only be transferred face-to-face. At the same time a shared vision between
stakeholders is being formed that acts as a driver for innovation. Although the
importance of interactive learning is widely acknowledged, an adequate
framework for studying interactive learning processes in emerging technologies
is still missing. Therefore we formulated the leading research question: How to understand and
conceptualize interactive learning in the context of emerging technologies? We did not only take the outcome
of interactive learning into account, but also focused on opening the black box
of the interactive learning process. We developed a framework based on
characteristic elements of the interactive learning process in emerging
technologies (i.e. prime mover, intermediaries, network formation and knowledge
flows), influencing conditions (geographical, cognitive, regulatory, cultural
and organisational proximity), and the outcome of the interactive learning
process (single-loop and double-loop, tacit and codified knowledge). Clarifying
examples are taken from the empirical field of the development of novel food
products (functional foods).
#08.07
(PDF)
Carolina Castaldi and Bart Los
The identification of important
innovations using tail estimators
International differences in economic performance are often
attributed to differences in innovative performance. Much empirical work
supports this contention, but problems in quantifying innovative output prevent
researchers from drawing a clear picture. Innovations are very heterogeneous
regarding their importance, with only very few innovations yielding substantial
returns. Citation frequencies are one measure of the value of innovations. We
use a recently introduced technique based on results from Extreme Value Theory
to estimate the characteristics of the tail of the distribution of citations.
We identify important innovations as those that receive a number of citations
higher than the ‘cutoff point’ of the tail of the distributions of citations.
The data come from the NBER Patent-Citations Database. We provide estimates of
the proportions of important patents for 31 technological categories and
discuss emerging patterns. Possible implications for technology policy and
innovation management are also drawn.
#08.08
(PDF)
Simona O. Negro and Marko P. Hekkert
Explaining the success of emerging
technologies by innovation system functioning: the case of biomass digestion in
Germany
We examine the view that the success of emerging
technologies may be understood using a technological innovation systems
analysis, drawing on a systems functions approach. This is done in the context
of a case study of the successful diffusion of biomass digestion technology in
Germany. We show that that all system functions that are claimed to be
important within the innovation systems approach are present in the German
Biomass Innovation System; and that these system functions positively interact
leading to virtuous cycles and a rapid growth of the German Biomass Digestion
Innovation System.
#08.09
(PDF)
Roel Nahuis
The
politics of displacements. Towards a framework for democratic evaluation
The confrontation of values and interests and an impact
in the public realm constitutes a broadly recognised political dimension of
technological innovation processes. There is, however, a gap between empirical
research into these politics of innovation and normative research into their
democratic evaluation. Especially methods for evaluating the democratic quality
of dynamic and non-formal forms of innovation politics are lacking. This paper
aims to fill the gap by developing a framework for analysing the politics of
innovation in terms of displacements of issues. Its first part reviews
different theoretical approaches and concludes that decision-making about
design and use generally takes place in a multitude of settings and that this
circumstance calls for theoretical investigation of displacements between
settings. In the second part, the notions of ‘issue’, ‘setting’, and
‘displacement’ are further elaborated and related to one another. A conceptual
framework is construed that is suggested to be helpful in the democratic
evaluation of the politics of displacements. The paper ends with a reflection
on the applicability of recently developed democratic criteria. Because these
criteria are devised for proceduralised and static decision-making processes,
they needed to be reduced to three democratic principles that are general
enough to capture local variation and specific enough to make a difference
between good and bad politics.
#08.10
(PDF)
Marko P. Hekkert and Simona O. Negro
Functions of innovation systems as a framework to
understand sustainable technological change: empirical evidence for earlier
claims
Understanding the emergence of innovation
systems is recently put central in research analysing the process of
technological change. Especially the key-activities that are important for the
build up of an innovation system receive much attention. These are labeled
‘functions of innovation systems’. In most cases the authors apply this
framework without questioning its validity. This paper builds on five empirical
studies, related to renewable energy technologies, to test whether the
functions of innovation systems framework is a valid framework to analyse processes
of technological change. We test the claim that a specific set of functions is
suitable. We also test whether the claim made in previous publications that the
interactions between system functions accelerate innovation system emergence
and growth is valid. Both claims are confirmed.
#08.11
(PDF)
Roel Nahuis
The
rise and fall of self-service in Amsterdam trams: User technology relations in
a case of service innovation
The stabilisation of innovative technology depends on
reconciling technological requirements and user behaviour. This can be achieved
by adjusting the technology to the users, by configuring the user, or by a
combination thereof. This paper evaluates different strategies in a case of
service innovation: the substitution of conductors with self-service machines
in the Amsterdam tramways around 1970 and the various forms of fare-dodging
that came along. To counteract fare-dodging, the transport company unsuccessfully
relied on a strategy to configure users. Alternative strategies, notably
configuring users through technological adjustment, are suggested to increase
the chance of stabilisation. These observations and suggestions are related to
the actual characteristics of services: given that transport services are
immediately and collectively used, their misuse, if not corrected by fellow
passengers, soon tends to threaten the aspect of stability. Emphasising service
characteristics thus contributes to a better understanding of strategies to
reconcile services and users.
This working paper is now published as:
R. Nahuis (2009), The rise and fall of self-service in
Amsterdam trams: User technology relations in a case of service innovation, Technology Analysis and Strategic Management,
21 (2), 233-247.
#08.12
(PDF)
Malte Schwoon, Floortje Alkemade, Koen Frenken and
Marko P. Hekkert
A complex systems methodology to transition management
There is a general sense of urgency that major
technological transitions are required for sustainable development. Such
transitions are best perceived as involving multiple transition steps along a
transition path. Due to the path dependent and irreversible nature of
innovation in complex technologies, an initial transition step along some preferred path may cut off paths that later
may turn out to be more desirable. For these reasons, initial transition steps
should allow for future flexibility, where we define flexibility as robustness
regarding changing evidence and changing preferences. We propose a technology
assessment methodology that identifies the flexibility of initial transition
steps in complex technologies. We illustrate our methodology by an empirical
application to 2646 possible future car systems.
This working paper is now published as:
Alkemade, F.,
K. Frenken, M.P. Hekkert and M.A. Schwoon. A complex systems methodology to
transition management. Journal of Evolutionary Economics. DOI 10.1007/s00191-009-0144-x.
#08.13
(PDF)
Simona O. Negro,
Marko P. Hekkert and Ruud Smits
Stimulating Renewable Energy Technologies by
Innovation policy
In this paper we analyse the dynamics of three
emerging innovation systems by using the system functions approach in which the
underlying key activities that contribute to the build up of an innovation
system are identified. The insights gained with respect to the dynamic
functional patterns specific for each emerging innovation system will allow us
to identify system failures and develop policy and policy measures that start
out from an innovation systems’ perspective. We will present initial ideas on
the building blocks for a more systemic policy aiming to support the
development of new emerging innovation systems (and in doing so break down
parts of the old innovation systems).
#08.14
(PDF)
Frank J. van Rijnsoever, Laurens K. Hessels and Rens L.J. Vandeberg
A resource-based view on the interactions of
university researchers
The high value of collaboration among scientists and
of interactions of university researchers with industry is generally
acknowledged. In this study we explain the use of different knowledge networks
at the individual level from a resource-based perspective. This involves
viewing networks as a resource that offers competitive advantages to an
individual university researcher in terms of career development. Our results
show that networking and career development are strongly related, but it is
important to distinguish between different types of networks. Although networks
on various levels (faculty, university, scientific, industrial) show strong
correlations, we found three significant differences. First, networking within
one’s own faculty and with researchers from other universities stimulates
careers, while interactions with industry do not. Second, during the course of
an academic career a researcher’s scientific network activity first rises, but
then declines after about 20 years. Science-industry collaboration, however,
continuously increases. Third, the personality trait ‘global innovativeness’
positively influences science-science interactions, but not science-industry
interactions.
This working paper is now published as:
Frank J. van
Rijnsoever, Laurens K. Hessels and Rens L.J. Vandeberg (2008), A resource-based
view on the interactions of university researchers, Research Policy 37, pp.1255–1266
#08.15
(PDF)
Albert Faber and Koen Frenken
Models in evolutionary economics and environmental
policy: Towards an evolutionary environmental economics
In this paper we review evolutionary economic
modelling in relation to environmental policy. We discuss three areas in which
evolutionary economic models have a particularly high added value for
environmental policy-making: the double externality problem, technological
transitions and consumer demand. We explore the possibilities to apply
evolutionary economic models in environmental policy assessment, including the
opportunities for making policy-making endogenous to environmental innovation.
We end with a critical discussion of the challenges that remain.
#08.16
(PDF)
Laurens K. Hessels, Harro van Lente and Ruud Smits
In search of relevance: The changing contract
between science and society
This paper presents a framework to study the
historical development of the relationship between science and society. We
elaborate this relationship as a contract that specifies the mission of
scientific research, the rationales for public support for science, and the
conditions under which scientists work. These three structural elements will
always be part of the contract, but their specific content can vary. The
credibility cycle, as a model for scientific practice, helps to describe and
understand the consequences of a changing contract for the work of individual
scientists. A brief case study of chemistry in the Netherlands demonstrates the
usefulness of the framework. We show how concepts of relevance have changed
since 1975 and how this affects the practice of academic chemistry.
This working paper is now published as:
Laurens K. Hessels,
Harro van Lente and Ruud E.H.M. Smits (2009), In search
of relevance: the changing contract between science and society, Science and Public Policy, 36 (5), pp.
387-341
#08.17 (PDF)
Frank van Rijnsoever and Carolina Castaldi
Perceived technology clusters and ownership
of related technologies: the case of consumer electronics
We contribute to the understanding of how technologies
may be perceived to be part of technology clusters. The value added of the
paper is both at a theoretical and empirical level. We add to the theoretical
understanding of technology clusters by distinguishing between clusters in
perceptions and clusters in ownership and by proposing a mechanism to explain
the existence of clusters. Our empirical analysis combines qualitative and
quantitative methods to investigate clusters of consumer electronics for a
sample of Dutch consumers. We find that perceived clusters in consumer
electronics are mostly determined by functional linkages and that perceived
technology clusters are good predictors of ownership clusters, but only for
less widely diffused products.
#08.18
(PDF)
Alexander Peine
The sources of use knowledge – towards a framework about use,
consumption and industrial dynamics
This paper reviews
three strands of the innovation literature that have presented innovation as a
distributed process that combines knowledge of users, designers and
manufacturers: user innovations, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and the
study of consumption. These literatures have explored different aspects of the
micro-processes through which use and design are locally aligned. This paper
pulls together insights from these literatures, and identifies an important
gap: the connections between the local alignment of use and design and the
macro dynamics of industrial and technological change. The paper then calls for
an analysis of the social processes that link the dynamics of the use
environment, where forms and meanings of use are actively created, with the
technical knowledge bases of industries. It concludes with a number of
propositions towards an integrated framework of use, consumption and industrial
dynamics.
#08.19 (PDF)
Sjoerd Bakker, Harro
van Lente and Marius Meeus
Arenas of expectations for hydrogen technologies
Technological options can be regarded as variations in an evolutionary
development process. The variations are put forward by their respective
technological communities and are selected by technology selectors. Building on
the notion of quasi-evolutionary technology development we show how
technological communities secure their position on R&D agendas through
feeding and maintaining expectations in arenas of expectations. We examine this
process by studying the expectations work of the community that tries to
develop metal hydrides for the on-board storage of hydrogen for mobile
applications. Metal hydrides are proposed as a promising alternative to gaseous
and liquid hydrogen storage but are yet underdeveloped. Its proponents however,
succeed in convincing their sponsors of the future potential of metal hydrides.
In this paper we show how expectations of this technological option are raised
and maintained by its developers and how this has kept them on hydrogen
technology agendas for over 40 years.
#08.20
(PDF)
Frank J. van Rijnsoever
Opinion leaders in the domain of consumer electronics
and their use of external search channels
This study proposes and tests a number of hypotheses about opinion
leaders in the domain of consumer electronics and their use of external search
channels. Based on the results of a survey among 1872 consumers, opinion
leaders in the domain of consumer electronics are found to most likely be young
working males without children. The use of different search channels by opinion
leaders is related to the degree of opinion leadership through an inverted
U-shape. This study shows that these relationships are in fact explained by the
respondents’ knowledge about the product category. Finally, the theoretical and
managerial implications are discussed.
#08.21 (PDF)
Alexander Peine
Challenging
incommensurability – What we can learn from Ludwik Fleck for the analysis of
complex technical systems
This paper explores the work of Ludwik Fleck and its
applicability for the analysis of innovation in complex technical systems. The
objectives of the paper are twofold. First, it strives to bring Ludwik Fleck
back on the map of technology analysis. For this purpose, it develops a
Fleckian perspective on technological change and innovation that augments the
well-known concept of technological paradigms with insights about thought styles and collectives. Secondly, the paper shows that this perspective
provides important cues to understand the interactions of different industrial
sectors in innovation – a common yet under-researched occurrence in innovation
of complex technical systems.
#09.01
(PDF)
Roel Nahuis, Ellen Moors and Ruud Smits
User producer interaction in context:
A classification
Science, Technology and
Innovation Studies show that intensified user producer interaction (UPI)
increases chances for successful innovations, especially in the case of
emerging technology. It is not always clear, however, what type of interaction
is necessary in a particular context. This paper proposes a conceptualization
of contexts in terms of three dimensions – the phase of technology development,
the flexibility of the technology, and the heterogeneity of user populations –
resulting in a classification scheme with eight different contextual
situations. The paper identifies and classifies types of interaction, like
demand articulation, interactive learning, learning by using and domestication.
It appears that each contextual situation demands a different set of UPI types.
To illustrate the potential value of the classification scheme, four examples
of innovations with varying technological and user characteristics are
explored: the refrigerator, clinical anesthesia, video cassette recording, and
the bicycle. For each example the relevant UPI types are discussed and it is
shown how these types highlight certain activities and interactions during key
events of innovation processes. Finally, some directions for further research
are suggested alongside a number of comments on the utility of the
classification.
#09.02
(PDF)
Roel Nahuis
The distribution of decision-making.
The case of a flexible public transport system
Instead of explaining the outcomes of a policy process
with reference to a rational planning logic, this paper scrutinises the
circumstances in which decisions actually are taken. It follows issues when
they displace between different decision-making settings. The approach is
applied to a case of decision-making about a flexible public transport system
in and around Hoogeveen, the Netherlands: a case in which the decision-making
process was distributed over no less than fifteen settings. The main result of the
analysis is a typology of five different displacements based on typical framing
effects, which could form the basis of a theory with which complex, interactive
and opportunistic decision-making processes can be understood in more general
terms.
#09.03
(PDF)
Ellen Moors and Rogier Donders
Understanding
consumer needs and preferences in new product development: the case of
functional food innovations
As the majority of new products fail it is important to focus on the
needs and preferences of the consumers in new product development. Consumers
are increasingly recognised as important co-developers of innovations, often
developing new functions for technologies, solving unforeseen problems and
demanding innovative solutions. The central research question of the paper is:
How to understand consumer needs and preferences in the context of new product
development in order to improve the success of emerging innovations, such as
functional foods. Important variables appear to be domestication, trust and
distance, intermediate agents, user representations and the consumer- and
product specific characteristics. Using survey and focus group data, we find
that consumers need and prefer easy-to-use new products, transparent and
accessible information supply by the producer, independent control of efficacy
and safety, and introduction of a quality symbol for functional foods.
Intermediate agents are not important in information diffusion. Producers
should concentrate on consumers with specific needs, like athletes, women,
obese persons, and stressed people. This
will support developing products in line with the needs and mode of living of
the users.
#09.04
(PDF)
Simona O. Negro, Véronique Vasseur, Wilfried G.J.H.M. van Sark and
Marko P. Hekkert
Understanding innovation system build up: The rise and fall of the Dutch
PV Innovation System
Renewable energy technologies have a hard time to break through in the
existing energy regime. In this paper we focus on analysing the mechanisms
behind this problematic technology diffusion. We take the theoretical
perspective of innovation system dynamics and apply this to photovoltaic solar
energy technology (PV) in the Netherlands. The reason for this is that there is
a long history of policy efforts in The Netherlands to stimulate PV but results
in terms of diffusion of PV panels is disappointingly low, which clearly constitutes a case of slow diffusion.
The history of the development of the PV innovation system is analysed in terms
of seven key processes that are essential for the build up of innovation
systems. We show that the processes related to knowledge development are very stable
but that large fluctuations are present in the processes related to ‘guidance
of the search’ and ‘market formation’. Surprisingly, entrepreneurial activities
are not too much affected by fluctuating market formation activities. We relate
this to market formation in neighbouring countries and discuss the theoretical
implications for the technological innovation system framework.
#09.05 (PDF)
Floris J. Huétink, Alexander van der Vooren
and Floortje Alkemade
Initial infrastructure development strategies for the transition to
sustainable mobility
Within the Dutch transition policy framework, the transition to
hydrogen-based transport is seen as a promising option towards a sustainable
transport system. This transition requires the build-up of a hydrogen
infrastructure as a certain level of refuelling infrastructure is necessary
before (even the most innovative or environmentally friendly) consumers will
substitute their conventional car for a hydrogen vehicle (Dunn 2002). This is
often referred to as the chicken-and-egg problem of infrastructure development.
However, the build-up of infrastructure is costly and irreversible and it is
therefore important for policymakers to gain insight in the minimally required
levels of initial infrastructure that will still set off the transition. In this paper we therefore present a
diffusion model for the analysis of the effects of different strategies for hydrogen
infrastructure development on hydrogen vehicle fleet penetration. Within the
simulation model, diffusion patterns for hydrogen vehicles were created through
the interactions of consumers, refuelling stations and technological learning.
We compare our results to the benchmark patterns derived from the hydrogen
roadmap. The strategies for initial infrastructure development differ with
respect to the placement (urban or nationwide) and the number of initial
refuelling stations. Simulation results indicate that when taking social
learning between consumers into account, diffusion is generally lower than in
the benchmark patterns. Furthermore, simulation results indicate that a
nationwide deployment strategy generally leads to faster diffusion of hydrogen vehicles
than a strategy focused on urban areas. These demand side aspects of the
transition to sustainable mobility are considered especially important in the
Netherlands since besides the high cost associated with infrastructure
investment the Netherlands do not have a
domestic car industry so that policy measures will most likely focus on
infrastructure and consumers. Increased insights in the relation between
infrastructure development strategies and hydrogen vehicle diffusion are thus
necessary to further manage the transition to sustainable mobility.
This working paper is now published as:
Floris J. Huetink, Alexander van der Vooren, Floortje Alkemade, Initial
infrastructure development strategies for the transition to sustainable
mobility, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, In Press, Corrected
Proof, Available online 30 April 2010, ISSN 0040-1625, DOI:
10.1016/j.techfore.2010.03.012. (PDF)
#09.06
(PDF)
Frank J. van Rijnsoever, Martin J. Dijst and Carolina Castaldi
Involvement and use of multiple search channels in the automobile
purchase process
In this study we investigate the relationship between
involvement and use of multiple search channels in the case of pre-purchase
information search for automobiles. We derive theoretical hypotheses by
combining arguments from both an economic or cost/benefit approach and a
motivational perspective. Our
theoretical framework is tested on a sample of 1392 Dutch consumers using a
structural equation model approach. We find that interpersonal sources and
retailers are relatively often consulted and their use is not strongly related
to involvement. The use of channels such as the World Wide Web and mass media
is instead strongly related to involvement, because their specialized content
is best appreciated by highly involved consumers. Finally, theoretical and managerial
implications are discussed.
#09.07 (PDF)
Frank J. van Rijnsoever, Jacco Farla and Martin J.
Dijst
Consumer Car Preferences and Information Search Channels
In this paper, we measure the relations between stated
and revealed car preferences and the use of information sources in the car
purchasing process, based on a survey of households in the Netherlands. The
analysis showed that attitudinal and behavioral constructs are found for
‘environmental’, ‘performance’, and ‘convenience’ preferences, but that there
is a ‘gap’ between attitude and behavior. The results show that people with a
positive environmental attitude who also show environmentally friendly behavior
have more involvement with cars than people who do not translate their
environmental attitude into the corresponding behavior. This leads to the idea
that not only environmental knowledge but also involvement with cars is a
prerequisite for buying an environmentally friendly car.
#09.08(PDF)
Floortje Alkemade and Marko P. Hekkert
Development paths for emerging innovation systems: implications for
environmental innovations
The functions of innovations systems approach states
that in order for an innovation system to function well several key process or
functions have to be addressed. Earlier contributions on this topic provide
empirical descriptions of innovation systems over time and present analyses of
how the key activities fluctuate over time .This body of literature shows that
there are considerable differences between function fulfilments in different
innovation systems making it difficult to directly compare innovation systems.
In this paper we present a first step towards such a more theoretically based
approach by describing how innovation system ideally functions over time and
then use this approach to analyze 17 case studies of technological innovation
systems regarding environmental innovations in the Netherlands. More
specifically, we describe desirable patterns of function fulfilment over the
lifecycle of a technological innovation system, thereby focusing on the
transition from the exploratory phase to the growth phase. We then compare
these theoretical patterns to assess 17 technological innovation systems
concerning environmental technologies. Outcomes show that environmental
innovations in general follow similar patterns to mostly market-driven
innovations but that some key processes remain unaddressed. This leads to
important insights for policymakers.
#09.09(PDF)
Roald A.A. Suurs, Marko P. Hekkert, Sander Kieboom and Ruud E.H.M. Smits
Understanding the formative stage of Technological Innovation System
development. The case of natural gas as an automotive fuel
This study contributes to insights into mechanisms
that influence the successes and failures of emerging energy technologies. It
is assumed that for an emerging technology to fruitfully develop, it should be
fostered by a Technological Innovation System (TIS), which is the network of
actors, institutions and technologies in which it is embedded. For an emerging
technology a TIS has yet to be built up. The research focuses on the dynamics
of this build-up process by mapping the development of seven key activities:
so-called system functions. The main contribution revolves around the notion of
cumulative causation, or the phenomenon that the build-up of a TIS may
accelerate due to system functions reinforcing each other over time. As an
empirical basis, an analysis is provided of the historical development of the
TIS around automotive natural gas technology in the Netherlands (1970-2007).
The results show that this TIS undergoes a gradual build-up in the 1970s,
followed by a breakdown in the 1980s and, again, a build-up from 2000-2007. It
is shown that, underlying these trends, there are different forms of cumulative
causation, here called motors of innovation. The study provides strategic
insights for practitioners that aspire to support such motors of innovation.
This working paper is now published as:
Roald A.A. Suurs, Marko P. Hekkert, Sander Kieboom and
Ruud E.H.M. Smits. Understanding the formative stage of Technological
Innovation System development. The case of natural gas as an automotive fuel. Energy Policy, In Press.
#09.10(PDF)
Roald A.A. Suurs, Marko P. Hekkert, and Ruud E.H.M. Smits
Understanding the build-up of a Technological
Innovation System around Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies
This study provides insight into the development of hydrogen
and fuel cell technologies in the Netherlands (1980-2007). This is done by
applying a Technological Innovation System (TIS) approach. This approach takes
the perspective that a technology is shaped by a surrounding network of actors,
institutions and technologies. When a technology is in an early stage of
development, a TIS has yet to be built up in order to propel technological
progress. This paper focuses on the historical build-up of the hydrogen and
fuel cell innovation system in the Netherlands. The research focuses on
processes that accelerated or slowed down the developments of hydrogen and fuel
cell technologies. We suggest that this framework is helpful for actors who
intend to accelerate the development and deployment of hydrogen and fuel cells
in other countries.
This working paper is now published as:
Roald A.A. Suurs, Marko P. Hekkert, and Ruud E.H.M.
Smits Understanding the build-up of a Technological Innovation System around
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies. International
Journal of Hydrogen Energy, In Press.
#09.11(PDF)
Jacco Farla, Floortje Alkemade and Roald A.A. Suurs
Analysis of Barriers in the Transition toward
Sustainable Mobility in the Netherlands
The transition toward a sustainable transportation
system in the Netherlands takes place in the context of the Dutch “Transition
management policy framework”. We study four tech¬nological routes that the
“Platform Sustainable Mobility” has selected for this goal: (1) hybridization
of vehicles, (2) liquid biofuels, (3) natural gas as a transportation fuel and
(4) hydrogen as a transportation fuel. These technological routes all envision
large-scale changes in vehicle propulsion technology and fuel infrastructure.
Furthermore, they compete for the scarce resources available to invest in new
(fuel) infrastructures, which implicates that these ‘transition paths’ are also
interdependent at the level of the mobility system. The main outcome of the
analysis is the identification of barriers that are currently blocking the
transition toward sustainable mobility. Barriers are classified as being
related to (1) technology and vehicle development, (2) the availability of
(fuel) infrastructures, and (3) elements of the institutional infrastructure.
The transition management framework currently misses guidelines for coping with
(competing) technologies that each requires large infrastructural investments.
We further argue that avoiding undesired lock-ins and creating a beneficial
institutional context for sustainable mobility cannot be pursued at the
transition path level. Therefore, we recommend that a more systemic approach
should be taken to the transition to sustainable mobility, in which the
interdependencies between the transition paths are critically assessed and in
which the possibilities to legitimize sustainable mobility as a whole should be
used.
This working
paper is now published as:
Jacco Farla, Floortje Alkemade, Roald A.A. Suurs,
Analysis of barriers in the transition toward sustainable mobility in the
Netherlands, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, In Press, Corrected
Proof, Available online 1 May 2010, ISSN 0040-1625, DOI:
10.1016/j.techfore.2010.03.014. (PDF)
#09.12(PDF)
Anna J. Wieczorek, Marko P. Hekkert and Ruud Smits
Contemporary Innovation Policy and Instruments:
Challenges and Implications
In this paper we review major theoretical
(neoclassical economics, evolutionary, systemic and knowledge-based) insights
about innovation and we analyse their implications for the characteristics of
contemporary innovation policy and instruments. We show that the perspectives
complement each other but altogether reveal the need to redefine the current
general philosophy as well as the modes of operationalisation of contemporary
innovation policy. We argue that systemic instruments ensuring proper
organisation of innovation systems give a promise of increased rates and
desired (more sustainable) direction of innovation.
#09.13(PDF)
Barbara van Mierlo, Cees Leeuwis, Ruud Smits and Rosalinde Klein Woolthuis
Learning towards system innovation. Evaluating a
systemic instrument
This paper is now
published in: Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 77,
Issue 2, pages 318-334, 2010.
#09.14(PDF)
Sjoerd Bakker
The car industry and the blow-out of the hydrogen hype
The hydrogen hype of the last decade has passed and it
is now seemingly substituted by the electric vehicle hype. A technological hype
can have both positive as well as negative consequences. On the one hand it
attracts sponsors for technology development but on the other hand the high
expectations might result in disappointment and subsequent withdrawal of the
sponsors. In this paper I ask the
question to what extent the car industry has created the hype and how it has
done so. The industry’s role is studied through their prototyping activities
and accompanying statements on market entry. I conclude that the car industry
has indeed inflated the hype, especially through its public statements on
market release after the turn of the millennium. Furthermore, the industry has
shown a double repertoire of both highly optimistic and more modest statements.
From this I take that statements are used deliberately to serve the industry’s
interests whenever needed. Without neglecting the positive outcomes of hype, public
and private funding for R&D efforts, more modest promises could serve the
development of sustainable mobility better.
#09.15(PDF)
Sjoerd Bakker, Harro van Lente and Marius Meeus
The Emergence of a Dominant Design – a study on
hydrogen prototypes
The notion of dominant designs deals with dominance in
the market and the dominant design is thought to be dominant because of market
selection forces. The notion thus ignores the possible selection that takes
place in pre-market R&D stages of technological trajectories. In this paper
we ask the question whether pre-market selection takes place and if this can
lead to an early dominant design. Furthermore we study what selection criteria
apply during this phase, in the absence of actual market criteria. We do so
through an analysis of prototyping trajectories for hydrogen vehicles.
Prototypes are used by firms in their internal search
process towards new designs and at the same time they are means of
communicating technological expectations to outsiders. In both senses,
prototypes can be taken as indicators of technological trajectories in the
ongoing search process of an industry for the dominant prototype design of the
future. Using prototypes as representation of intermediate outcomes of the
search process, a dominant design can possibly be recognized also in a
pre-market phase of development.
We analyzed the designs of prototypes of hydrogen
passenger cars from the 1970s till 2008. In our analysis we try to show to what
extent the designs configurations of the technological components, converge or
diverge over time. For this we compiled a database of 224 prototypes of
hydrogen passenger cars. The database describes: the car’s manufacturer, year
of construction, type of drivetrain, fuel cell type, and capacity of its
hydrogen storage system. We draw conclusions with regard to the
convergence/divergence of the prototypes’ designs and the role of diverse
performance criteria therein.
We conclude that there is convergence towards a
dominant design in the prototyping phase; the PEM fuel cell combined with high
pressure storage. Performance played a role as selection criterion, but so did
regulation and strategic behaviour of the firms. Especially imitation dynamics,
with industry leaders and followers, seems to be the major explanatory factor.
#09.16(PDF)
Gaston Heimeriks
Governing science as a complex adaptive system
Research policy is a complex matter. Copying best
practices in research policy, as identified by benchmarking studies, is popular
amongst policy makers but fails because of ‘knowledge asymmetries’. Research
fields exhibit distinct knowledge dynamics that respond differently to
governance interventions. Extending the idea of search regimes, this paper aims
at providing a policy model for different knowledge dynamics by elaborating the
notion of knowledge production as a complex adaptive system.
Complex regimes emerge from three interacting sources
of variance. In our conceptualisation, researchers are the nodes that carry the
science system. Research can be considered as geographically situated practices
with site specific skills, equipments and tools. The emergent science level
refers to the formal communication activities of the knowledge published in
journals and books, and announced in conferences. The contextual dynamics refer
to the ways in which knowledge production provides resources for social and economic
development.
This
conceptualization allows us to disaggregate knowledge dynamics both in
horizontal (field related) and vertical (level related) dimensions by
articulating the three different dynamics and their path dependencies (in
research, science and society) in co-evolution with each other to produce
distinct search regimes in each field. The implication for research governance
is that generic measures can sometimes be helpful but there is clear need for
disaggregated measures targeting field specific search regimes. Governing
knowledge production through disaggregated measures means targeting in a
distinct way not only different fields, but also, and more importantly, the
interactions between local research practices, emergent scientific landscapes,
and the field’s relationship to its societal context. If all three “levels” are
aligned, there is a stable regime.
#10.01(PDF)
W.P.C. Boon, E.H.M. Moors and H.G.M. Leufkens
Patient advocacy and articulation of expectations
about pharmaceutical innovations
Objective: to show how patient advocacy organizations
articulate and manage expectations about pharmaceutical innovations when faced
with issues pertaining to unsustainable drug development, such as unequal
access to new medicines, debatable medical need, or low economic profitability.
Background: the management of expectations by patient
advocacy organizations is increasingly gaining importance in influencing
pharmaceutical innovations and can have a positive influence on keeping health
care sustainable.
Methods: concise stylized examples in the field of
pharmaceutical innovations were drafted based on in-depth research into the
patient organizations. This research conveyed a large amount of events in which
these organizations were engaged using a triangulation of methods and sources
(archival materials, interviews with representatives of patient organizations
and other actors in the health care system, observations of meetings and
conferences).
Findings: patient advocacy groups are to a large
extent engaged in new technologies. The most important ways of managing
expectations are 1) achieving a balance between making use of enthusiasm and
the dynamics of expectations and ‘forced forwarding’ or overemphasizing risks,
and 2) forming and communicating expectations and visions in the context of
societal debates.
Conclusions: the variability of patient advocacy
groups and their contexts leads to broadening and enriching the debates on the
sustainability of drug innovation and to differences in attention to certain
sustainability issues, including ethical and social impacts, access, and
solidarity. The heterogeneity, subtlety, diversity and variability of patient
advocacy make these organizations complex and underestimated vehicles for the
articulation of expectations.
#10.02(PDF)
Laurens K. Hessels, John Grin, Ruud E.H.M. Smits
Stakeholder
interactions in Dutch animal sciences
This paper investigates the effects of the changing institutional
environment on academic research practices in the case of Dutch animal
sciences. The two most important changes in the Dutch agricultural research
system in the past few decades have been shifts in the available funding and
the rise of performance evaluations. Our analysis shows that these have only
stimulated interactions with societal stakeholders in fields where this helped
to sustain a basic research agenda. In other fields there turns out to be a
tension between satisfying the needs of application-oriented funding sources
and reaching high scores on evaluations that are dominated by bibliometric
indicators.
#10.03(PDF)
Neil Thompson and Erik Stam
Macroeconomic Dynamics and Innovation: SME innovation in the
Netherlands, 1999-2009
While numerous academic studies sufficiently bond the emergence of
(radical) innovations to macroeconomic growth (Plosser (1989); Freeman and
Perez (1988); Mansfield (1983); Mensch (1979); Jovanovic and Lach (1997);
Giedeman and Simons (2006)), the competitive mechanisms that influence small
firm innovation activity are under-theorized and empirically under-represented
(see Heger (2004)). Moreover, policy-maker tend to assume a “one-size-fits-all”
stimulus agenda can be implemented nation-wide to enhance innovation activity
in small firms, i.e. suggesting that supportive policies for the macroeconomic
climate will have the same effect on all industries, while in reality, firm and
industry innovativeness results in different effects from the macro-economy. Therefore,
our main research question asks to what extent and how do macroeconomic
dynamics affect product innovations. We take a quantitative approach by
examining innovation survey responses from small and medium sized enterprises
(SMEs) from 1999-2009 in the Netherlands. Methodologically, we utilize logistic
regressions on the pooled cross-section dataset to examine statistically
significant effects at an aggregate, innovativeness, and sector level using
macroeconomic indicators such as Real GDP, domestic consumption, unemployment
rates, and long-term interest rates. Findings suggest that innovativeness of
firms and industries results in varying significant effects from the
macroeconomic condition. Policy should account for sector specifics and
innovativeness when considering future innovation stimulus objectives.
#10.04(PDF)
Sjoerd Bakker, Harro van Lente and Remko Engels
Competition in a technological niche: the cars of the future
Two designs compete to become the car of the future: the battery
electric and the hydrogen car. Even though both designs are part of the same
trend towards electrification of the drivetrain, they compete in terms of
R&D funding, supportive regulation and infrastructure. Both options are
developed and tested in so-called technological niches in which they are
shielded from regular market forces. The body of literature on technological
niches deals with the development of single niches and their relation to the
socio-technical regime and landscape. With this paper we aim to contribute an
understanding of the dynamics of the competition between multiple niche
technologies.
The competition between the two designs takes place on the level of
firms as well as on a global, industry-wide, level. In our case study we
describe the competition since the 1990s and show how attention and
expectations for both options have alternated in three phases. High hopes and
subsequent disappointments of component technologies were main drivers for the
alternations. On the local level there is room for multiple options at the same
time, but on the global level attention and expectations seem much more
focussed on either the one or the other.
#11.01(PDF)
Floortje Alkemade, Simona Negro, Neil Thompson and Marko Hekkert
Towards a micro-level explanation of sustainability transitions:
entrepreneurial strategies
In this paper we argue that insights in the actor level of
sustainability transitions are a necessary next step in the study of
sustainability transitions. The paper outlines a first step towards a more
systematic analysis of actor strategies in sustainability transitions by
linking strategies described in the sustainable entrepreneurship literature to
the technological innovation systems literature. The focus is thereby on
nascent entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial incumbent firms which both play a
crucial role in developing and commercializing the technologies needed in a
transition to sustainability. Our analysis points to two avenues for further
research: the role of legitimacy strategies in sustainability transitions and
the role of cooperative versus competitive strategies in sustainability
transitions.
#11.02(PDF)
Gaston Heimeriks
Measuring Interdisciplinarity: Conceptualization and indicators - The
cases of Biotechnology, Genomics and Nanotechnology
The notion of interdisciplinarity has received a lot of attention from
researchers and policy makers in discussions around the social and intellectual
organisation of the sciences. To date, however, no consensus has been reached
on the definition of interdisciplinarity and on suitable indicators. In this
paper we propose a conceptualization of different forms of interdisciplinarity
by introducing different levels of analysis; research, science and society. In
this conceptualisation, research relates to the institutional settings and the
variety of skills and infrastructures that are required in knowledge
production. The science level refers to the emerging clusters of related
publications in the scientific landscape. Finally, the societal dynamics refer
to the intensity of knowledge use in society and the importance and variety of
stakeholder involvement. Empirical examples in Genomics, Nanotechnology and
Biotechnology show that interdisciplinarity refers to different processes on
these three levels of analysis and are not necessarily occurring
simultaneously. Research, science and society interact and shape each other in
a process of co-evolution. All three fields are characterized by pronounced
research interactions between different disciplines, but all three fields
exhibit very different (inter-) disciplinary characteristics at the science
level in terms of journal citation patterns. Non-academic involvement in
knowledge production, as indicated by Triple Helix collaborations, has
increased dramatically in recent years. From a governance perspective, this
conceptualization provides distinct rationales for policy interventions in
relation to interdisciplinarity in research, science and society.
#11.03(PDF)
Harro van Lente, Charlotte Spitters, and Alexander Peine
Comparing technological hype cycles: towards a theory
The notion of ‘hype’ is widely used and represents a tempting way to
characterize developments in technological fields. The term appears in business
as well as in academic domains. Consultancy firms offer technological hype
cycle models to determine the state of development of technological fields in
order to facilitate strategic investment decisions. In Science, Technology and
Innovation Studies the concept of hype is considered in studies on the dynamics
of expectations in innovation processes, which focuses on the performative
force of expectations. What is still lacking is a theory of hype patterns that
is able to explain the different shapes of hype cycles in different contexts.
In this paper we take a first step towards closing this gap by studying and
comparing the results of case studies on three hypes in three different
empirical domains: voice over internet protocol (VoIP), gene therapy and
high-temperature superconductivity. The cases differ in terms of the type of
technology and the characteristics of the application environment. We conclude
hype patterns indeed vary a lot and that some degree of misalignment between
levels of expectations thus seems to indicate a flourishing field.
#11.04(PDF)
Sjoerd Bakker, Harro van Lente, and Marius Meeus
Credible expectations – the US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Program
as enactor and selector of hydrogen technologies
There are many competing transition paths towards sustainability and
even more competing visions and expectations, while only a limited of number of
paths can be supported. It is recognized that positive expectations of the
different options are necessary to attract funding. However, in the literature
so far, not much attention has been paid to the actual assessment of
expectations and their role in the selection of promising technologies: what
makes one expectation more credible than another and, furthermore, who voices
the expectations and who assesses them?
We performed a case study on the US Department of Energy’s (DOE)
Hydrogen Program. The program takes a central position in the development of
hydrogen technologies for vehicular applications. The case study is based on
DOE documents, observations during meetings, meeting minutes, and interviews
with DOE staff members.
In the paper we show how credible expectations build on three arguments
in favour of the promising option. First there is the technology’s current
level of performance and its historical progress towards that level. Second a
path forward is constructed to argue that even higher levels of performance can
be achieved. And third, a target or end-goal is constructed that the technology
is expected, or supposed, to meet and this end-goal relates to perceived
societal needs. All three elements can, and often are, subject of contestation
and competing options will provide the same type of arguments and relate to the
same societal needs.
Finally, a credible vision builds on positively selected promising
technologies: increased pressure on the hydrogen vision has resulted in more
stringent selection of enabling technologies, based on their growth potential.
As a consequence, the ‘losers’ are dropped from the hydrogen research
portfolio.
#11.06(PDF)
Simona Negro, Floortje Alkemade, and Marko Hekkert
Why does Renewable Energy diffuse so slowly? A review of innovation
system problems.
According to many energy policy plans, the future energy system should
contain a large share of renewable energy sources. This requires the
development and diffusion of renewable energy technologies (RET). Even though
large policy efforts have been allocated to speed up the development and
diffusion of RET, the results are disappointing. Apparently, it is a difficult
process to influence. In this paper we present a literature review of studies
that have analysed the troublesome trajectory of RET development and diffusion
in different countries. We present an overview of typical systemic problems in
the development of innovation systems around RET. We make use of the literature
on innovation system failures to develop a categorisation of typical systemic
problems.
#11.07(PDF)
Magda Smink, Marko Hekkert, and Simona Negro
Keeping sustainable innovation on a leash: Exploring incumbents’ strategies
with regard to disruptive innovation
This research aims to identify the strategies of incumbent actors with
regard to disruptive energy innovations. This exploratory study is embedded in
the transition theories TIS and MLP. These system level approaches are
complemented by insights on actor behavior from the theory of the firm and
Strategic Management literature. Through semi-structured interviews with actors
in the field of renewable energy technologies in the Netherlands, this study
identified a preliminary set of empirical strategies. These strategies can be
directed at four target groups: the general public, policy makers, the market,
and/or the individual entrepreneur. Incumbents are in a position to
significantly influence the innovation’s development by employing these
strategies. However, they do not necessarily use all types of strategies.
Nonetheless, they are able to determine the amount of space an innovation gets
to develop; thus keeping sustainable innovation on a leash.
#11.08(PDF)
Anna Wieczorek and Marko Hekkert
Systemic instruments for systemic innovation problems: a framework for
policy makers and innovation scholars
Systemic policy instruments receive increasing attention among
innovation scholars as means to stimulate sustainability oriented technological
innovation. The instruments are called systemic in expectation to improve the
functioning of entire (innovation) systems. A first step in designing systemic
instruments is an analysis of the systemic problems that hinder the development
of a specific technological trajectory. This paper argues that two approaches
to study innovation systems - structural and functional analyses - can be
combined in a systemic policy framework that helps to (i) identify the systemic
problems and (ii) suggest the systemic instruments that would address these
problems.
#11.09(PDF)
Toon Meelen and Jacco Farla
Towards an integrated framework for sustainable innovation policy
An integrated framework for the analysis and development of sustainable
innovation policy was developed, based on a combination of the transition
management framework, the strategic niche management approach, and policy
recommendations resulting from technological innovation system (TIS) studies.
In the framework, the multilevel view from transition management has been
integrated with the functions approach from the TIS literature. The integrated
policy framework shows that specific policy goals and measures can be found at
the specific points of intervention related to landscape, regime, TIS and
niches. The integrated framework suggests that stimulation of a TIS only makes
sense when this is well aligned with landscape and regime developments. The
framework also suggests that the three TIS functions entrepreneurial
activities, knowledge development and knowledge diffusion can be seen as policy
goals, whereas the four other TIS functions are more directly linked to policy
measures.
#12.01(PDF)
Frank
van Rijnsoever, Marius Meeus and Roger Donders
The effects of economic status and recent experience
on innovative behavior under environmental variability: an experimental
approach
We
build and empirically test a model that predicts the display of innovative
behavior as a function of environmental change, with recent experience and
economic status acting as moderators. We start with the model developed by
Slevin (1971), which evolved from the so-called innovation boundary. This is
the threshold beyond which the display of innovative behavior becomes
attractive. We show how environmental change creates uncertainty about the
position of the innovation boundary; however, this uncertainty is reduced by
recent experiences. Furthermore, economic status serves as both an enhancer and
an inhibitor of innovation. Our model was tested and largely confirmed in two
experiments: one conducted in a laboratory setting and one conducted as a
discrete choice experiment. Currently experiments are rarely conducted in the
field of innovation studies. By presenting this evidence we also hope that more
authors will conduct experiments in their work.
#12.02(PDF)
Alexander
Peine, Ingo Rollwagen and Louis Neeven
Exploring new patterns of user involvement – baby
boomers and the future of consumption
Demographic
aging is among the most striking challenges industrialized economies face; it
will lead to profound changes in consumption structures. How these changes will
affect innovation, however, is thus far not well understood. In this paper we
strive to make a first step towards closing this gap and establish the
challenges associated with demographic aging on the map of innovation scholars.
For this purpose, we present empirical results of our research into the modes
of thinking that underlie design processes targeted at older persons. These
modes are limited in two ways—they concentrate on older persons as being
characterized by generic, age-related decrements, and they frame older
technology users as passive recipients of technology. Current design practices
for older persons, therefore, imply a threefold risk. They are likely to
generate technology that is unattractive for older consumers, that provides
limited cues for meaningful activity, and that suppresses the co-creational
inputs of older persons to innovation. To rectify this, we propose a
symmetrical perspective on the relationship between technology and aging that
revolves around older persons as active consumers of technology. We discuss
implications for innovation scholars and practitioners and conclude with more
fundamental propositions regarding the distribution of tasks between consumers
and producers.
#12.03(PDF)
Alexander
Peine, Ingo Rollwagen and Louis Neeven
Exploring new patterns of user involvement – baby
boomers and the future of consumption
Demographic
aging is among the most striking challenges industrialized economies face; it
will lead to profound changes in consumption structures. How these changes will
affect innovation, however, is thus far not well understood. In this paper we
strive to make a first step towards closing this gap and establish the
challenges associated with demographic aging on the map of innovation scholars.
For this purpose, we present empirical results of our research into the modes
of thinking that underlie design processes targeted at older persons. These
modes are limited in two ways—they concentrate on older persons as being
characterized by generic, age-related decrements, and they frame older
technology users as passive recipients of technology. Current design practices
for older persons, therefore, imply a threefold risk. They are likely to
generate technology that is unattractive for older consumers, that provides
limited cues for meaningful activity, and that suppresses the co-creational
inputs of older persons to innovation. To rectify this, we propose a
symmetrical perspective on the relationship between technology and aging that
revolves around older persons as active consumers of technology. We discuss
implications for innovation scholars and practitioners and conclude with more
fundamental propositions regarding the distribution of tasks between consumers
and producers.
#12.04(PDF)
Anna Wieczorek, Simona Negro, Robert Harmsen, Gaston Heimeriks, Lin Luo,
Marko Hekkert
A Review of the European Offshore Wind Innovation
System
Offshore wind has the potential of becoming an important pillar of the
future European energy system, contributing to policy objectives on climate
change, energy security, green growth and social progress. However, the large
potential of offshore wind does not automatically lead to a large share in
future energy systems; neither does the emergent stage of development of the
technology. Recent insights in innovation studies suggest that the success
chances of technological innovations are, to a large extent, determined by how
the surrounding system - the innovation system - is built up and how it
functions. In this paper we assess the offshore wind innovation systems of four
countries: Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands and Germany with the objective to
provide recommendations for strengthening the overall European offshore wind
innovation system. We use the Technological Innovation System (TIS) approach to
analyze the system in 2011. Based on the analysis we identify a number of
challenges that the European offshore wind sector faces. Some of them include:
a serious deficiency of engineers; fragmented policies and poor alignment of
national regulatory frameworks; cost of the technology and limited grid
infrastructure. Since the problems hinder the entire system development we call
for a systemic policy instrument that would support the innovation system
around this technology and contribute to its wider diffusion in Europe.
#12.05(PDF)
Anna Wieczorek, Robert Harmsen, Gaston Heimeriks, Simona Negro, Marko
Hekkert
Systemic policy for offshore wind challenges in Europe
This paper discusses systemic problems hindering the large-scale
European diffusion of offshore wind technology using the Technological
Innovation System perspective. The most urgent identified problems include:
cost of technology, lack of common vision on grid improvement, fragmented
European electricity market, reliability and availability of technology,
limited grid access and capacity as well as serious deficiency of high and
middle level personnel. To address the problems the paper proposes a systemic
policy package composed of such elements as: Innovation Zones, Expert Mobility
Programme and Grid Initiative. The paper argues that a European coordinated
action is beneficial not only for EU but also for its Member States.
#13.01(PDF)
Alexander van der Vooren and Eric Brouillat
Evaluating CO2 reduction policy portfolios in the
automotive sector
This paper presents an agent-based model that simulates the market for
passenger cars in which firm strategies, market structure, consumer choices and
policy instruments co-evolve. The main contribution of the paper is to show
that this type of simulation model can be used to explore interactions and
additional effects when different policy measures are combined to reduce CO2
emissions. We show the impact of policy portfolios on economic and
technological decisions of firms, on consumer choice and on global CO2
emissions. In particular, we show how the dynamics of the system can lead to a
technological lock-in into internal
combustion technologies and demonstrate the ways in which policy
instruments can help to break this lock-in. We show that policy portfolios can
be relevant to achieve the best of different stand-alone policy measures, but
not necessarily. Ex ante evaluation is therefore recommended.
#13.02(PDF)
Alexander Peine and Ellen Moors
Valuing health technology – new value spaces for
personal health systems to support active ageing
In this paper, we strive to unravel in how far current practices of
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) are suitable to guide health policy decisions
about personal health systems (PHS). We focus on the implicit representations
of users and their position in the innovation process that underly established
HTA practices, and explore in how far these representations are conducive to
health technology decisions that support older people in meaningful and active
lives. Our analysis builds on Callon’s recent distinction between prosthetic
and habilitation social policies [M. Callon, Economic Markets and the Rise of
Interactive Agencements: From Prosthetic Agencies to Habilitated Agencies, in:
T. Pinch, R. Swedberg (Eds.), Living in a Material World: Economic Sociology
Meets Science and Technology Studies, The MIT Press, Cambridge, 2008, pp.
29-56]. We revisit the results of two case studies that we conducted in the
fields of Point-of-Care Diagnostics, set in the domains of primary and
secondary care, and care robot service platforms operating in domestic
environments. By contrasting these cases we demonstrate how a different logic
of addressing values in innovation feeds into either prosthetic or habilitation
policy decisions about health technology. Based on this analysis, we argue that
HTA practices in the context of PHS need to incorporate a logic of valuing
health technology in order to fully deliver the potential of PHS to the lives
of older persons.
#13.03(PDF)
Onder Nömaler, Koen Frenken and Gaston Heimeriks
Do more distant collaborations have more citation
impact?
Internationally co-authored papers are known to have more citation
impact than nationally co-authored paper, on average. However, the question of
whether there are systematic differences between pairs of collaborating
countries in terms of the citation impact of their joint output, has remained
unanswered. On the basis of all scientific papers published in 2000 and
co-authored by two or more European countries, we show that citation impact
increases with the geographical distance between the collaborating counties.
#13.04(PDF)
Jarno Hoekman and Koen Frenken
Proximity and Stratification in European Scientific
Research Collaboration Networks: A Policy Perspective
In this chapter we introduce a framework to understand the geography of
scientific research collaboration with an emphasis on empirical studies that
evaluate the policy efforts to create a ‘European Research Area’ (ERA). We
argue that the geography of scientific research collaboration follows a logic
of proximity that provides researchers with solutions to the problem of
coordination, and a logic of stratification that provides researchers with
differential means to engage in collaboration. The policy efforts to create ERA
can then be understood as strategic policy interventions at the European level
that affect the form and nature of both structuring principles. More
specifically, the aim of reducing ‘fragmentation of research activities,
programmes and policies’ affects the importance of several forms of proximity
vis-à-vis each other, while the promotion of ‘research excellence’ results in
new forms of network stratification at multiple spatial scales. We provide an
overview of recent empirical findings to illustrate these claims, and discuss
potential implications for future ERA policies.
#14.01(PDF)
Magda Smink, Simona Negro and Marko Hekkert
How mismatching institutional logics frustrate
sustainability transitions
Despite the centrality of niche-regime interaction in the Multi Level
Perspective, scant attention has been paid to how exactly this interaction
unfolds at the micro-level. This article sets out to deepen insights in
niche-regime interaction by focusing on the confrontation between niche and
regime rule-sets. We draw on the concept of ‘institutional logics’ to identify
divergent types of practices and underlying belief systems in the case of
biomethane injection in the Dutch natural gas grid. Based on interviews and
background documents we find diverging logics for network operators and
biomethane producers, which hampers cooperation due to trust and communication
issues. We observe that ‘boundary bridging’ organizations step in to connect
and translate between the different groups to bridge this gap. This research
shows that we cannot ignore the social dimension of transition processes:
transitions do not only depend on the well-known technical, economic and
regulative dimensions, but also on the ability of people to change their belief
systems and practices and thus open up new avenues for change.
#14.02(PDF)
Andrea Herrmann and Kim van der Putten
Unravelling start-up processes with the help of
sequence analyses
Our sequence analyses of the PSED2 database, the largest available
dataset on venture creation processes, demonstrate two points. First, they show
when and how to use the numerous variants of this method. To this end, we
develop a decision tree that makes the analytical choices to be taken explicit.
Since researchers can often not know ex ante which way of running sequence
analyses delivers the most insightful results, we suggest to use this decision
tree and: `in case of doubt, do it both ways!`. Second, our analyses also
highlight the usefulness of sequence techniques for studying venture creation
processes. Contrary to previous start-up analyses, we succeed in identifying 16
distinct ways in which entrepreneurs set up new ventures. These findings
suggest that previous studies fail to recognize systematic venture creation
patterns due to the use of traditional statistical techniques which do not make
it possible to treat one sequence of events as one single case.
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#14.03(PDF)
Roel Nahuis and Ellen Moors
The inertia of a use regime. Why a celiac disease pill is conceived but
not embraced
The failure to involve users in research and development (R&D)
processes continues to be a major reason for unsuccessful R&D. This failure
can be understood by focusing on regimes (comprising heuristics, rules and
routines) that orient and coordinate the activities of actors with regard to
innovations. We describe the case of a pill for celiac disease patients and
show that the conception and development of the pill was shaped by a
technological regime that provides R&D actors with rules to routinely
acquire relevant information about users and the market. Reserved patient
organisations did not play a role. To understand the reserved reception of the
pill, we elaborate the concept of a use regime. The reservations are understood
as an expression of an existing diet-based use regime that guides the way the
target group of the pill is currently dealing with celiac disease. The lack of
interaction between the R&D actors in the consortium and the patient
organisation appears to be a manifestation of the lack of alignment between the
technological and use regimes. Based the regime literature, finally, three
scenarios for the future development of the pill are discussed.
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#14.04(PDF)
Julia Planko, Jacqueline Cramer, Maryse Chappin, and Marko Hekkert
Strategic collective system building by firms who launch sustainability
innovations
The implementation of innovative sustainability technologies often
requires far reaching changes of the macro environment in which the innovating
firms operate. Strategic management literature describes that firms who want to
commercialize an innovative technology can collaborate in networks or industry
clusters to build up a favourable environment for their technology. This
increases the chances of successful diffusion and adoption of the technology in
society. However, the strategic management literature does not offer advice on
how to strategically build up this supportive external environment. We fill this
gap with complementary insights from the technological innovation systems
literature. We introduce the concept of strategic collective system building.
Collective system building describes processes and activities networks of
actors can strategically engage in to collectively build up a favourable
environment for their innovative sustainability technology. Furthermore, we
develop a strategy fr
#15.01(PDF)
Magda Smink, Joost Koch, Eva Niesten, Simona Negro and Marko Hekkert
Institutional entrepreneurship in the emerging renewable energy field:
incumbents versus new entrants
An underexplored issue in the institutional
entrepreneurship (IE) literature is the difference between incumbents and new
entrants in promoting institutional change for innovative technologies. We
study the IE activities: cooperation, framing, and political tactics in the
case of biomethane development in the Netherlands, during 2006-2012. While for
decades biogas farmers have been unable to build a supporting institutional
framework, incumbents recently arranged substantial government support. Our
theoretical contribution lies in defining dimensions of the three core IE
activities. We present empirical evidence that new entrants and incumbents
employ all three activities, but in distinct ways. Thus, the incumbents’ IE
activities lead to more substantial institutional change than new entrants’
activities. As a consequence, production shifts from electricity to gas and the
scale of installations increases. We conclude that incumbents can accelerate
institutional change, however their focus on large-scale installations makes it
difficult for biogas farmers to contribute to biomethane production.
#15.02(PDF)
Gerben W. de Vries, Wouter Boon and Alexander Peine
User-technology interactions in the construction of user-driven
configurations – lessons from Dutch civic energy communities
In this research, we explore user innovations in five
Dutch civic energy communities. We show how these user innovations where
embedded in a wider community process around realizing desired socio-technical
change, and how the rationale, conditions and competences needed to identify
and implement user innovations are shaped by this wider process. This interplay
of collective learning and implementing user innovations requires a variety of
preparatory efforts by community members, that may be of a seminal importance
to the eventual nature and success of new socio-technical arrangements.
Moreover, it is suggested that the dynamics found here result from a specific
user logic that may be characteristic more generally for user communities
innovating in configurational settings, i.e. combining and tinkering with
innovative as well as mundane technological devices into a local and tailored
configurations.
#15.03 (PDF)
Maikel Kishna, Eva Niesten, Simona Negro and Marko Hekkert
The role of strategic alliances in creating technology legitimacy: a
study on the emerging field of bio-plastics
The aim of this study is to analyze the role of
strategic alliances in creating legitimacy for an emerging sustainable
technology. The literature has identified different ways in which alliances
create legitimacy for firms, but it has failed to address the legitimacy of
technologies. This paper contributes to this literature by identifying
technology-sourced market legitimacy, technology-sourced social legitimacy and
technology legitimacy. It focuses on the case of bio-plastics, which is
emerging as a sustainable technology due to pressures towards environmentalism
in the chemical industry. The analysis is based on a database that we
constructed using secondary sources, and which contains information on 105
alliances in the field of bio-plastics over the period 1990-2013. The results
show that firms increase their market and social legitimacy by accessing the
sustainable technology of an alliance partner, by collaboratively developing a
sustainable technology, or by providing the technology of a partner with access
to customers and production capacity. Alliances also promote the desirability
and appropriateness of a technology (i.e. technology legitimacy) by supplying
multiple applications of the technology to an expanding number of markets, by
exercising their signaling role, and by acting as institutional entrepreneurs.
Alliances that stimulate technology-sourced market and social legitimacy are
often bilateral and inter-firm alliances that produce and market sustainable
technologies. In contrast, alliances that stimulate technology legitimacy are
multilateral and inter-organizational alliances in the pre-competitive and
R&D stages of the value chain.
#15.04 (PDF)
Kristin Reichardt, Simona O. Negro, Karoline S. Rogge and Marko P.
Hekkert
Analyzing interdependencies between policy mixes and technological
innovation systems: the case of offshore wind in Germany
One key approach for studying emerging technologies in
the field of sustainability transitions is that of technological innovation
systems (TIS). While most TIS studies aim at deriving policy recommendations –
typically by identifying system barriers – the actual role of these proposed
policies in the TIS is rarely looked at. In addition, often single policy
instruments instead of more encompassing policy mixes are considered. We
address these shortcomings by applying a more comprehensive policy mix concept
within the TIS approach. In doing so we analyze interdependencies between the
policy mix and the TIS by shedding light on the role of the policy mix for TIS functioning
and performance as well as how TIS developments influence the evolution of the
policy mix. We explore these interdependencies for the case of offshore wind in
Germany, using data from event history analysis and expert interviews. We find
highly dynamic interdependencies with reoccurring patterns of systemic problems
and adjustments of the policy mix, which are fuelled by high policy mix
credibility and supportive actors. Our study constitutes a first step
incorporating the policy mix concept into the TIS approach, thereby enabling a
better understanding of real dynamics occurring in TIS.
#15.05
(PDF)
Frank van Rijnsoever
(I Can’t Get No) Saturation: A Simulation and Guidelines for Minimum
Sample Sizes in Qualitative Research
This paper explores the sample size in qualitative
research that is required to reach theoretical saturation. I conceptualize a
population as consisting of sub-populations that contain different types of
information sources that hold a number of codes. Theoretical saturation is
reached after all the codes in the population have been observed once in the
sample. I delineate three different scenarios to sample information sources:
“random chance,” which is based on probability sampling, “minimal information,”
which yields at least one new code per sampling step, and “maximum
information,” which yields the largest number of new codes per sampling step.
Next, I use simulations to assess the minimum sample
size for each scenario for systematically varying hypothetical populations. I
show that theoretical saturation is more dependent on the mean probability of
observing codes than on the number of codes in a population. Moreover, the
minimal and maximal information scenarios are significantly more efficient than
random chance, but yield fewer repetitions per code to validate the findings. I
formulate seven guidelines for purposive sampling and recommend that researchers
follow a minimum information scenario.
#16.01
(PDF)
Koen Frenken
A Complexity-Theoretic Perspective on Innovation Policy
It is argued that innovation policy based on notions
of market failure or system failure is too limited in the context of current
societal challenges. I propose a third, complexity-theoretic approach. This
approach starts from the observation that most innovations are related to
existing activities, and that policy’s additionality is highest for unrelated
diversification. To trigger unrelated diversification into activities that
contribute to solving societal challenges, government’s main task is to
organize the process of demand articulation. This process leads to clear and
manageable societal objectives that
effectively guide a temporary collation of actors to develop solutions
bottom-up. The combination of a broad coalition, a clear objective and
tentative governance are the means to cope with the inherent complexity of
modern-day innovation.
#16.02
(PDF)
Lars Böcker and Toon Meelen
Sharing for people, planet or profit? Analysing
motivations for intended sharing economy participation
The sharing economy is a fast-growing and heavily
debated phenomenon. This study provides an overview of motivations of people
willing to participate in different forms of the sharing economy. A survey was
held amongst 1,330 respondents from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Using stated
preference data, we investigate the relative importance of (1) economic, (2)
social and (3) environmental motivations to participate in peer-to-peer
sharing. Hereby we consider differences between (a) sectors of the sharing economy,
(b) socio-demographic groups, and (c) users and providers. Results are
descriptive as well as based on ordered logit models. Notable differences are
observed in the motivations for sharing between sectors. To a lesser extent
there is variety in sharing drivers between socio-demographic groups. Finally,
users seem more economically motivated than providers of goods.
#16.03
(PDF)
Iris Wanzenböck
Measuring network proximity of regions in R&D networks
This paper proposes a new measure for assessing the
network proximity between aggregated units, based on disaggregated information
on the network distance of actors. Specific focus is on R&D network structures
between regions. We introduce a weighted version of the proximity measure,
related to the idea that direct and indirect linkages carry different types of
knowledge. Here, first-order proximity arising from direct cross-regional
linkages is to be distinguished from higher-order network proximity resulting
from indirect linkages in the R&D network. We use an macroeconomic
application where we analyse the productivity effects
of R&D network spillovers across regions to illustrate the usefulness
of a proximity measure specifically developed for
aggregated units.
#16.04
(PDF)
Koen Frenken and Juliet Schor
Putting the sharing economy into perspective
We develop a conceptual framework that allows us to
define the sharing economy and its close cousins and understand its sudden rise
from an economic-historic perspective. We then assess the sharing economy
platforms in terms of the economic, social and environmental impacts. We end
with reflections on current regulations and future alternatives, and suggest a
number of future research questions.
#16.05 (PDF)
Matthijs Janssen
What bangs for your bucks? Assessing the design and impact of
transformative policy
After an era of generic support for economic
development and innovation, narrowly targeted transformation policy is back on
the table. Recent advances in the fields of new industrial policy and
transition thinking converge on the idea that achieving structural change
requires governments to take an active role in overcoming inertia. Rather than
just leveraging R&D investments and setting framework conditions, policy makers
are urged to participate in the development of socio-economic systems around
particular technologies. Associated policy support typically involves a diverse
portfolio of system-specific interventions.
The emergence of transformative policy, in this paper
characterized by being selective, process-oriented and multi-instrumental,
poses severe challenges to rising standards of public accountability.
Evaluation methods for calculating the ‘bang for the buck’ of
R&D-leveraging measures are ill-suited when policy mixes are supposed to
enact economic transformation. We argue that, in order to see if aptly chosen
policy design is bringing about actual change, assessments should gauge policy
contributions to building up technological innovation systems (TIS). The TIS-literature
provides a concrete but untapped basis for tracking how policy efforts affect
conditions favoring the creation and diffusion of new economic activities. This
premise leads us to introduce a scheme for structuring analyses concerned with
(the links between) the organization, orientation and aggregate impact of
transformative policy. We test it in a tentative assessment of the Dutch ‘Topsector approach’.
Besides facilitating continuous policy learning, our
assessment scheme also serves to strengthen policy maker’s ability to
legitimize the adoption of heterodox economic approaches..
#17.01
(PDF)
Koen Frenken
Political Economies and Environmental Futures for the Sharing Economy
The sudden rise of the sharing economy has sparked an
intense public debate about its definition, its effects and its future
regulation. Here, I attempt to provide analytical guidance by defining the
sharing economy as the practice that consumers grant each other temporary
access to their under-utilized physical assets. Using this definition, the rise
of the sharing economy can be understood as occurring at the intersection of
three salient economic trends: peer-to-peer exchange, access over ownership and
circular business models. I shortly discuss some of the environmental impacts
of online sharing platforms and then articulate three possible futures of the
sharing economy: a capitalist future cumulating into monopolistic
super-platforms allowing for seamless services, a state-led future that shifts
taxation from labour to capital and redistributes the
gains of sharing from winners to losers, and a citizen-led future based on
cooperatively owned platforms under democratic control. The nature and size of
the social and environmental impacts are expected to differ greatly in each of
the three scenarios.
#17.02 (PDF)
Karla Münzel, Wouter Boon, Koen Frenken and Taneli Vaskelainen
Carsharing Business Models in Germany: Characteristics, Success and Future
Prospects
Carsharing provides an
alternative to private car ownership by allowing car use temporarily on an on-demand
basis. Operators provide carsharing services using
different business models and ownership structures. We distinguish between
cooperative, business-to-consumer (B2C) roundtrip and one-way, as well as
peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing. This paper characterizes
these different types of business models and compares their success in terms of
diffusion using a comprehensive database of all 101 German carsharing
providers in 2016. The key results hold that fleet size is significantly
different across business models ranging from a few cars (cooperatives in small
towns), to a few hundred (B2C roundtrip in larger cities), to over a thousand
(B2C one-way in largest cities), up to multiple thousands (P2P across the
country). By analyzing for each operator the number of cars per capita in the
city they operate in, we do not find significant differences across business
models indicating the viability of each separate business model type. Hence, we
conclude that business models will continue to co-exist for a while, although
some of the business models may well converge in the longer run due to
Internet-of-Things applications and the introduction of self-driving cars.
#17.03 (PDF)
Karla Münzel, Wouter Boon, Koen Frenken, Jan Blomme and
Dennis van der Linden
Explaining Carsharing Diffusion Across Western
European Cities We analyze the diffusion of carsharing
across 177 cities in five Western European countries (Belgium, France, Germany,
The Netherlands, United Kingdom) and identify the influence of spatial,
socio-demographic and institutional city characteristics. Carsharing
can partially replace private ownership
of vehicles with a service that allows the use of a car temporarily on an
on-demand basis. It has the potential to satisfy individualized transportation
demands in a sustainable and socially beneficial way and reduces urban problems
like traffic and parking pressure in growing cities. We present the first study
that explains the number of shared cars present in a city, while distinguishing
between the traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) business model and the more
recent peer-to-peer (P2P) business model. We find that carsharing
per capita is highest in the largest cities. Moreover, carsharing
is popular in cities with high educational level and many green party votes,
and less popular in cities with many car commuters. Particularly striking are
the differences between countries, with peer-to-peer carsharing
being especially popular in French cities and business-to-consumer carsharing in Germany. We reflect on the findings in the
light of (sustainable) mobility policy options.
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