Johan Schot

Regime shifts to sustainability through processes of niche formation: The approach of strategic niche management

The unsustainability of the present trajctories of technical change in sectors such as transport and agriculture is widely recognized. It is far from clear, however, how a transition to more sustainable modes of development may be achieved. Sustainable technologies that fulful important user requirements in terms of performance and price are most often not available on the market. Ideas of what might be more sustainable technologies exist, but the long development times, uncertainty about market demand and social gains, and the need for change at different levels in organization, technology, infastructure and the wider social and institutional context-provide a great barrier. This raises the question of how the potential of more sustainable technologies and modes of development may be exploited. In this article we describe how technical change is locked into dominant technological regimes, and present a perspective, called strategic niche management, on how to expedite a transition into a new regime. The perspective consists of the creation and/or management of nichesfor promising technologies.

Strategic niche management and sustainable innovation journeys: theory, findings, research agenda, and policy

This article discusses empirical findings and conceptual elaborations of the last 10 years in strategic niche management research (SNM). The SNM approach suggests that sustainable innovation journeys can be facilitated by creating technological niches, i.e. protected spaces that allow the experimentation with the co-evolution of technology, user practices, and regulatory structures. The assumption was that if such niches were constructed appropriately, they would act as building blocks for broader societal changes towards sustainable development. The article shows how concepts and ideas have evolved over time and new complexities were introduced. Research focused on the role of various niche-internal processes such as learning, networking, visioning and the relationship between local projects and global rule sets that guide actor behaviour. The empirical findings showed that the analysis of these niche-internal dimensions needed to be complemented with attention to niche external processes. In this respect, the multi-level perspective proved useful for contextualising SNM. This contextualisation led to modifications in claims about the dynamics of sustainable innovation journeys. Niches are to be perceived as crucial for bringing about regime shifts, but they cannot do this on their own. Linkages with ongoing external processes are also important. Although substantial insights have been gained, the SNM approach is still an unfinished research programme. We identify various promising research directions, as well as policy implications.

The past and future of constructive technology assessment

Constructive technology assessment (CTA) is a member of the family of technology assessment approaches. developed in particular in the Netherlands and Denmark. CTA shifts the focus away from assessing impacts of new technologies to broadening design, development, and implementation processes. Explicit CTA has concentrated on dialogue among and early interaction with new actors. The idea has been taken up by actors other than governments (consumers, producers). CTA implies a modulation of ongoing technological developments, and an understanding of the dynamics of such modulation is used to identify and briefly discuss three generic strategies for CTA: technology forcing, strategic niche management, and loci for alignment. Modulation activities are to be located in the broader issue of how our societies handle new technology at all. The established division of labor between promotion and control should be mitigated by sociotechnical criticism. This underlines the need for reflection on role and value profile of CTA agents.

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.

Managing technology in society : the approach of constructive technology assessment

Part 1: The Constructive Technology Assessment Discourse: Technology Assessment and Reflexive Social Learning: observations from the Risk Field, Bryan Wynne (Constructive) Technology Assessment: An Economic Perspective, Luc Soete. Part 2: Steering Technology is Difficult but Possible: The Danish Wind-Turbine Story: Technical Solutions to Political Visions?, Ulrik Jorgensen and Peter Karnoe Steering Technology Development Through Computer-Aided Design, Gary Lee Downey Risk Analysis and Rival Technical Trajectories: Consumer Safety in Bread and Butter, Fred Steward. Part 3: Experiments with Social Learning: Learning About Learning in the Development of Biotechnology, Jaap Jelsma User Representations: Practices, Methods and Sociology, Madeleine Akrich Technologies as Social Experiments. The Construction and Implementation of a High-Tech Waste Disposal Site, Ralf Herbold Pollution Prevention, Cleaner Technologies and Industry, Arne Remmen. Part 4: Constructive Technology Assessment - The Case of Medical Technologies: Why the Development Process Should Be Part of Medical Technology Assessment: Examples from the Development of Medical Ultrasound, Ellen B. Koch Social Criteria in the Commercialization of Human Reproductive Technology, Vivien Walsh Decision Structures and Technology Diffusion: Technical and Therapeutic Trajectories for Diabetes Care, Thea Weijers. Part 5: Analysis of Possibilities for Change: Technological Conception and Adoption Network: Lessons for the CTA Practitioner, Michel Callon Firm Strategies and Technical Choices, Rod Coombs. Epilogue: Managing Technology in Society: Toward Constructive Technology Assessment, Arie Rip, Thomas J. Misa and Johan Schot Index.

Strategies for shifting technological systems : the case of the automobile system

Californian and Dutch efforts to produce electric vehicles are explored and compared. Three strategies are put forward that could turn electric vehicles from an elusive legend, a plaything, into a marketable product: technology forcing creating a market of early promises, experiments geared towards niche development and upscaling (strategic niche management), and the creation of new alliances (technological nexus) which bring technology, the market, regulation and many other factors together. These strategies deployed in the Californian and Dutch context are analysed in detail to explore their relative strengths and weaknesses and to argue in the end that a combined use of all three will increase the chances that the dominant technological system will change. The succesful workings of these strategies crucially depend on the coupling of the variation and selection processes, building blocks for any evolutionary theory of technical change. Evolutionary theory lacks understanding of these coupling processes. Building on recent insights from the sociology of technology, the authors propose a quasi-evolutionary model which underpins the analysis of suggested strategies.

The usefulness of evolutionary models for explaining innovation. The case of the Netherlands in the nineteenth century

Why do nations and industrial sectors cease to be pioneers? This question is discussed for the case of The Netherlands. Why was innovation in The Netherlands in the nineteenth century virtually limited to elaborating on developments in other countries whereas before it had been a technological paradise? It is argued here that no single reason can account for this loss of technological leadership. A complex of — often mutually reinforcing — factors was at work, some more important than others depending on the sector. The core of the explanation is that the Dutch had developed their own technological regime which was perfected before the nineteenth century. When a new regime emerged elsewhere it was difficult for the Dutch to adjust because of a complex set of barriers embedded in the existing technological regime. The inclination was to revitalise the old merchant capitalist regime and with success — albeit limited in the long run —, as some of the cases in the article show. This conclusion leads to a further question: How do regime shifts occur? Drawing on an evolutionary model, it is argued that new technologies emerge in technological niches, which after a process of branching can lead to a regime shift. Such a shift happens when successful niche formation coincides with a number of favourable external developments. Successful niche formation depends on the articulation of expectations, the coupling of new markets and new technologies, the development of new networks and the emergence of new competencies.

Towards new forms of participatory technology development

Technical change is crucial for sustainable development. Yet, it is unclear what kind of technology policy would suit such development. In this article constructive technology assessment (CTA) is offered as a model. CTA proposes broadening design by bringing together all interested parties early on and throughout the design process. CTA activities are not automatically directed at substantive goals such as those incorporated in the notion of sustainable development. The purpose of CTA is to shape technology development processes in such a way that social aspects are symmetrically considered in the process itself. To evaluate and shape CTA processes three criteria are offered: anticipation, reflexivity and social learning. These criteria are applied to three case-studies to illustrate their usefulness.

Introduction: Inventing Europe:1 Technology and the hidden integration of Europe

This article serves as an introduction to this special issue as well as a self-standing contribution. Using the lens of technology, we situate European integration (typically viewed as a political process) as an emergent outcome of a process of linking and delinking of infrastructures, as well as the circulation and appropriation of artefacts, systems and knowledge. These processes carried, shaped, flagged, and helped to maintain a sense of Europeanness, bringing out tensions in Europe and tensions about Europe. We call this ‘hidden integration.’ Yet the story of integration does not point to a seamless and inevitable process, a grand project with a set agenda. Instead it was a contested process throughout the 20th century leading to fragmentation as well as to integration. Our approach is contrasted with standard interpretations of European integration that treat European integration as an episode in international relations between nation-states.This article serves as an introduction to this special issue as well as a self‐standing contribution. Using the lens of technology, we situate European integration (typically viewed as a political process) as an emergent outcome of a process of linking and delinking of infrastructures, as well as the circulation and appropriation of artefacts, systems and knowledge. These processes carried, shaped, flagged, and helped to maintain a sense of Europeanness, bringing out tensions in Europe and tensions about Europe. We call this ‘hidden integration.’ Yet the story of integration does not point to a seamless and inevitable process, a grand project with a set agenda. Instead it was a contested process throughout the 20th century leading to fragmentation as well as to integration. Our approach is contrasted with standard interpretations of European integration that treat European integration as an episode in international relations between nation‐states.

Technocratic internationalism in the interwar years : building Europe on motorways and electricity networks

Technokratischer Internationalismus in der Zwischenkriegszeit: Die Schaffung Europas durch Autobahnen und ElektrizitatsnetzwerkeDer Artikel zeigt, wie Internationalismus und Technokratie, zwei wich...