Bernhard Truffer

EXPERIMENTING FOR SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT: THE APPROACH OF STRATEGIC NICHE MANAGEMENT.

Technological change is a central feature of modern societies and a powerful source for social change. There is an urgent task to direct these new technologies towards sustainability, but society lacks perspectives, instruments and policies to accomplish this. There is no blueprint for a sustainable future, and it is necessary to experiment with alternative paths that seem promising. Various new transport technologies promise to bring sustainability benefits. But as this book shows, important lessons are often overlooked because the experiments are not designed to challenge the basic assumptions about established patterns of transport choices. Learning how to organise the process of innovation implementation is essential if the maximum impact is to be achieved - it is here that strategic niche management offers new perspectives. The book uses a series of eight recent experiments with electric vehicles, carsharing schemes, bicycle pools and fleet management to illustrate the means by which technological change must be closely linked to social change if successful implementation is to take place. The basic divide between proponents of technological fixes and those in favour of behavioural change needs to be bridged, perhaps indicating a third way.

Places and Spaces of Sustainability Transitions: Geographical Contributions to an Emerging Research and Policy Field

LARS COENEN∗∗∗ & BERNHARD TRUFFER ∗CIRCLE: Centre for Research, Innovation and Competence in the Learning Economy, Lund University, Box 117, 22100 Lund, Sweden, ∗∗NIFU: Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education, Wergelandsveien 7, 0167 Oslo, Norway, CIRUS: Centre for Innovation Research in Utility Sectors, EAWAG, Dübendorf, Switzerland, Department of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

Concepts of decision support for river rehabilitation

Abstract River rehabilitation decisions, like other decisions in environmental management, are often taken by authorities without sufficient transparency about how different goals, predictions, and concerns were considered during the decision making process. This can lead to lack of acceptance or even opposition by stakeholders. In this paper, a concept is outlined for the use of techniques of decision analysis to structure scientist and stakeholder involvement in river rehabilitation decisions. The main elements of this structure are (i) an objectives hierarchy that facilitates and stimulates explicit discussion of goals, (ii) an integrative probability network model for the prediction of the consequences of rehabilitation alternatives, and (iii) a mathematical representation of preferences for possible outcomes elicited from important stakeholders. This structure leads to transparency about expectations of outcomes by scientists and valuations of these outcomes by stakeholders and decision makers. It can be used (i) to analyze synergies and conflict potential between stakeholders, (ii) to analyze the sensitivity of alternative-rankings to uncertainty in prediction and valuation, and (iii) as a basis for communicating the reasons for the decision. These analyses can be expected to support consensus-building among stakeholders and stimulate the creation of alternatives with a greater degree of consensus. Because most decisions in environmental management are characterized by similarly complex scientific problems and diverse stakeholders, the outlined methodology will be easily transferable to other settings.

Market Formation in Technological Innovation Systems—Diffusion of Photovoltaic Applications in Germany

The technological innovation systems (TIS) literature has focused strongly on actors, networks and institutions in early development phases of specific technologies. Structures and processes concerned with setting up and developing end-user markets have gained much less attention. Especially in maturing innovation systems, such market-related structures play a decisive role for the long-term success of innovations. The present paper proposes a conceptual framework for analyzing TIS substructures oriented at specific end-user markets. We apply this framework to the creation and maturation of different market segments for photovoltaic applications in Germany. The paper concludes by outlining implications of a more differentiated conceptualization of market processes for TIS research.

The Local Sources of Market Formation: Explaining Regional Growth Differentials in German Photovoltaic Markets

Sustainable transitions in the energy sector have gained only insufficient attention in economic geography so far. Conversely, transition scholars do not pay sufficient attention to the spatial dimension of these dynamics. This paper introduces a conceptual framework for analysing the spatial characteristics of market formation processes in emerging technological innovation systems, thus proposing a shared field of research for economic geographers and transition scholars. Drawing on a social constructivist analysis of market formation processes, we propose to differentiate “market formation” into three sub-processes for which we additionally specify spatial characteristics: (1) the formation of market segments, (2) market transactions and (3) end-user profiles. We apply this conceptual and explanatory framework to explain the uneven geography of photovoltaic market formation in Germany, the current world market leader in this field. By analysing the role of local solar initiatives in shaping and supporting local market formation processes, we are able to provide a more encompassing explanation of the German PV success story than alternative accounts that merely focus on strong incentive structures and favourable geophysical conditions.

Actor-oriented analysis of innovation systems: exploring micro–meso level linkages in the case of stationary fuel cells

Abstract The innovation systems approach has been successfully established as a conceptual basis for an encompassing analysis of actors, networks and institutions that influence innovation processes. Here we present an approach that concentrates on the actors in a selected technological innovation system. The intention is to specify current or potential contributions of actors, or actor groups, to innovation system performance and dynamics. This will be achieved by explicitly relating actor level characteristics such as innovation strategies and resource endowments to system level characteristics like actor configurations, system functions and performance. We illustrate the approach with a case study on stationary fuel cells in Germany.

Emerging solutions to the water challenges of an urbanizing world

The top priorities for urban water sustainability include the provision of safe drinking water, wastewater handling for public health, and protection against flooding. However, rapidly aging infrastructure, population growth, and increasing urbanization call into question current urban water management strategies, especially in the fast-growing urban areas in Asia and Africa. We review innovative approaches in urban water management with the potential to provide locally adapted, resource-efficient alternative solutions. Promising examples include new concepts for stormwater drainage, increased water productivity, distributed or on-site treatment of wastewater, source separation of human waste, and institutional and organizational reforms. We conclude that there is an urgent need for major transdisciplinary efforts in research, policy, and practice to develop alternatives with implications for cities and aquatic ecosystems alike.

Diffusion of green power products in Switzerland

Abstract As in many other European countries, green electricity is an emerging product in Switzerland as well. Although the market is yet to be liberalised, more than 100 of the 1200 Swiss electric utilities offer some sort of green electricity product to their customers. Successful companies like the municipal utilities of the cities of Zurich and Berne have reached customer response rates of up to 4%, while still maintaining cost-based pricing, i.e. charging their customers price premiums of 400–700% per kWh. While most of the products still rely on mainly photovoltaics, some utilities have started to introduce mixed green electricity products also including wind power. With a share of 60% in the Swiss generation mix, hydropowers role in the green electricity mix was also an issue to emerge causing controversial debate. While being renewable, hydropower is not considered environmentally benign by all the stakeholders, and unlike new renewables (solar, wind, biomass), there is little room for new hydropower generation facilities in Switzerland. The green electricity labelling scheme “Naturemade” tackles that issue. The labelling organisation has evolved from a process with broad stakeholder involvement, which included environmental NGOs, scientific institutions, green electricity providers, renewable energy advocates, government bodies and consumer organisations. The analysis in this paper is based on a diffusion theory framework. It identifies and characterises different phases of (past and future) market development, and stresses the importance of eco-labelling as a tool to facilitate the transition from niche to mass market. Finally, we also discuss conclusions that can be drawn from the Swiss case towards market development and labelling on a European level.

Determinants of environmental action with regard to climatic change

The study of human dimensions of global climatic change is still in the initial stage of development. Several attempts have been undertaken to define sensible research strategies in the field but until now relatively little empirical work has been undertaken and there is a lack of sound theoretical arguments. The present paper presents a theory-based empirical study of determinants influencing the probability that somebody takes climate-relevant environmental action. Important methodological differences between current models of climate dynamics and models of human reality are discussed in order to build three models of climate-related environmental action. A model focussed on the information transfer from science to the public at large is compared with a model focussed on sociodemographic characteristics and with a model focussed on socio-cultural variables like interpersonal rules and social networks. The hypothesis that the latter model is strongly superior to the former ones is tested and confirmed. Some implications for interdisciplinary cooperation and for policy making are discussed.

Society, Technology, and Region: Contributions from the Social Study of Technology to Economic Geography

Recent debates in economic geography have emphasized the need for a more explicit analysis of innovation processes at a sectoral or technological level. A great deal of attention has furthermore been devoted to connect the internal disciplinary debate with the wider discourse of the social sciences that deal with economic development in general and with the role of innovation in particular. In the present paper I argue that the field of the social study of technology (SST) can inspire research in economic geography in important respects: SST research has an explicit focus on the genesis of sociotechnical configurations; it has developed sector-related and technology-related multilevel theories of sociotechnical change; it has a strong emphasis on innovation dynamics and sector transformations; and finally, it has a focus on strategic planning in multiactor settings and thus favors foresight and participatory planning approaches in science, technology, and innovation policy. SST-inspired research could thus be an interesting partner for those approaches within economic geography that share some ontological starting positions with regard to actors, the role of institutions, and a revolutionary and multilevel analysis of sociotechnical transformation processes.