| 1. |
- Söderholm, Patrik, 1968-, et al.
(author)
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Technological development for sustainability : The role of network management in the innovation policy mix
- 2019
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In: Technological forecasting & social change. - : Elsevier. - 0040-1625 .- 1873-5509. ; 138, s. 309-323
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite the key role of actor networks in progressing new sustainable technologies, there is a shortage of conceptual knowledge on how policy can help strengthen collaborative practices in such networks. The objective of this paper is to analyze the roles of such policies – so-called network management – throughout the entire technological development processes. The analysis draws on the public management and sustainability transitions literatures, and discusses how various network characteristics could affect the development of sustainable technologies, including how different categories of network management strategies could be deployed to influence actor collaborations. The paper's main contribution is an analytical framework that addresses the changing roles of network management at the interface between various phases of the technological development process, illustrated with the empirical case of advanced biorefinery technology development in Sweden. Furthermore, the analysis also addresses some challenges that policy makers are likely to encounter when pursuing network management strategies, and identifies a number of negative consequences of ignoring such instruments in the innovation policy mix. The latter include inefficient actor role-taking, the emergence of small, ineffective and competing actor networks in similar technological fields, and a shortage of interpretative knowledge.
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| 2. |
- Hellsmark, Hans, 1974, et al.
(author)
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Innovation System Strengths and Weaknesses in Progressing Sustainable Technology : The Case of Swedish Biorefinery Development
- 2016
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In: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 131, s. 702-715
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Based on the combination of economic challenges and uncertain policy conditions in the United States, European Union, and elsewhere, the development of advanced biorefineries has progressed slower than anticipated. This has delayed the transition to a more sustainable and less carbon-intensive economy. In this article, we adopt the technological innovation system (TIS) approach to analyze advanced biorefinery development in Sweden, a front-runner country in current development. The analysis highlights a number of system strengths (e.g., long-term research funding; significant research infrastructure; strong actor networks) that have contributed to developing the Swedish TIS, but also important system weaknesses (e.g., weak coordination among ministries; lack of industrial absorptive capacity; unclear roles) inhibiting it. The article highlights a combination of four policy measures that build on the system strengths to address the system weaknesses: (a) the implementation of a deployment policy for creating domestic niche markets; (b) improved policy timing and more structured coordination among different governmental agencies; (c) the provision of stronger incentives for mature industries to invest in R&D and improve their absorptive capacity; and (d) improved organization and financing of existing research infrastructure. In addition to the empirical contribution, the article contributes with novel insights into the TIS framework by highlighting the dynamics between system strengths and weaknesses, and suggests that system strengths should be better emphasized in future TIS studies
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| 3. |
- Mossberg, Johanna, et al.
(author)
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Managerial and organizational challenges encountered in the development of sustainable technology : Analysis of Swedish biorefinery pilot and demonstration plants
- 2020
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In: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 276
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Pilot and demonstration plants (PDPs) perform critical tasks in the development of new sustainable technology by bridging basic knowledge generation and large-scale commercialization. Significant private and public funding has therefore been allocated to PDPs addressing climate change, pollution abatement technology and/or increased resource efficiency. After technology verification, PDPs typically struggle with evolving objectives, and reports of stalled or delayed development are common. Key problems may center on technical difficulties, but challenges of a non-technical nature are equally important, not least for the development of clean technology. This paper draws on a longitudinal case study of four PDPs used for advanced biorefinery technology development in Sweden and delineates the key managerial and organizational challenges that arise in and around such plants. By taking the actor networks around PDPs as the main unit of analysis, this paper gives a detailed description of various challenges, such as the division of responsibility for the operation and ownership of the PDPs, unclear roles and objectives, and the lack of specific competences and resources in the actor networks. One important conclusion is that improved knowledge about such challenges should increase the resilience of actor networks in and around PDPs, and also help shorten the formative phase of developing sustainable technology. © 2020 The Authors
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| 4. |
- Hellsmark, Hans, 1974, et al.
(author)
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The Role of Pilot and Demonstration Plants in Technology Development and Innovation Policy
- 2016
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In: Research Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-7333 .- 1873-7625. ; 45:9, s. 1743-1761
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Pilot- and demonstration plants (PDPs) represent bridges between generating basic knowledge and technological breakthroughs on the one hand, and industrial applications and commercial adoption on the other. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of how two technological fields that received significant public funding evolved—biochemical conversion of biomass and thermal conversion of black liquor. In doing so, this study makes two contributions. First, it provides a framework for analyzing the roles of various types of PDPs in developing new technology. The framework highlights the learning processes taking place at and around these plants and how they contribute to reducing different types of risks. It also elaborates on the importance of actor networks and institutional preconditions, and how both network performance and institutions can be influenced through various strategies. Second, the article contributes with new insights into the challenges of innovation policy in a PDP context. A policy mix is often required because policy cannot be considered meaningfully at a single level of government and will therefore be influenced heavily by limited foresight and politics (both nationally and locally). Therefore, policy must address both the need for parallel and iterative public funding of R&D and different types of plants, as well as attempts to directly influence collaborative processes in actor networks.
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| 5. |
- Hedeler, Barbara, 1991, et al.
(author)
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Policy mixes and policy feedback: Implications for green industrial growth in the Swedish biofuels industry
- 2023
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In: Renewable & sustainable energy reviews. - : Elsevier. - 1364-0321 .- 1879-0690. ; 173
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In recent years, innovation systems scholars have advanced the understanding of the evolution of industries around renewable energy technologies as well as the role of policy feedback (and indeed politics) surrounding the development of domestic green industrial development policies. To take a step towards combining these literature streams, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of policy mixes and policy feedback in the emergence of domestic green industries. This is achieved in the empirical case of biofuels in Sweden, and the findings show that policy feedback dynamics created difficulties in aligning the national policy mix with the technology and industrial developments in the country. The resulting political uncertainty predominantly hampered the scaling up of domestic production capacity, while R&D and import of biofuels instead could grow strong. Based on this empirical case, a process model is developed to explain the role of policy feedback in the development of domestic industries, thus demonstrating how the growth of domestic industries is driven by the interplay of policy effects and various feedback processes. The findings suggest that future research into the role of policies in “green” domestic industry growth should devote more attention to the dynamics driving the co-evolution of policy, technology and industry structures.
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| 6. |
- Frishammar, Johan, et al.
(author)
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A knowledge-based perspective on system weaknesses in technological innovation systems
- 2019
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In: Science and Public Policy. - Oxford : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1471-5430 .- 0302-3427. ; 46:1, s. 55-70
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The literature on technological innovation systems (TIS) provides policymakers and other actors with a scheme of analysis to identify system weaknesses. In doing so, TIS analysis centres on which system weaknesses policy interventions should target to promote further development of a particular system. However, prior TIS literature has not sufficiently elaborated on what may constitute the conceptual roots of a 'weakness'. We apply a knowledge-based perspective and propose that many-albeit not all-system weaknesses may root in four types of knowledge problems: uncertainty, complexity, equivocality, and ambiguity. Employing these as sensitizing concepts, we study system weaknesses by analysing data from a biorefinery TIS in Sweden. This analysis results in novel implications for the TIS literature and for achieving a better match between system weaknesses and the design of innovation policies.
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| 7. |
- Mousavi, Seyedesmaeil, 1983, et al.
(author)
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How can pilot and demonstration plants drive market formation? Lessons from advanced biofuel development in Europe
- 2023
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In: Technological forecasting & social change. - : Elsevier. - 0040-1625 .- 1873-5509. ; 194
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper analyzes through what enabling mechanisms pilot and demonstration plants (PDPs) reduce supply and demand uncertainties, and thereby contributing to the market formation for novel sustainable technologies. The analysis builds on three case studies within the advanced biofuel development in Europe. For each case, we construct a narrative of the technology development and derive detailed insights into how technology actors use PDPs to drive market formation. We develop a comprehensive analytical framework, which highlights how PDPs contribute to supply uncertainty reduction through three main enabling mechanisms: building credibility for the technology, business ecosystem orchestration, and technology learning. The corresponding enabling mechanisms behind demand uncertainty reduction include technology standardization, constructing the narrative, and the creation of legitimacy for the technology. The paper also unfolds the composite activities of each mechanism, and outlines implications for technology developers, policymakers, as well as for the research community.
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| 8. |
- Andersson, Johnn, 1983, et al.
(author)
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Shaping factors in the emergence of technological innovations: The case of tidal kite technology
- 2018
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In: Technological Forecasting and Social Change. - : Elsevier BV. - 0040-1625 .- 1873-5509. ; 132, s. 191-298
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The technological innovation systems (TIS) literature offers a detailed and dynamic understanding of factors that enable successful innovation. However, few studies analyze what determines where in space value chain elements are developed as a new technology is diffused on a large scale. The purpose of this paper is to show how the TIS approach can be used to identify and analyze factors that shape spatial trajectories of emerging technologies. It proposes an adapted analytical framework that expands the conventional focus on one-dimensional supporting and blocking factors, to shaping factors that incorporate the spatiality of innovation. The approach is illustrated by examining innovation in tidal kite technology. The analysis finds that a supportive local context in western Sweden during the infancy of tidal kite technology, together with the availability of competent engineers and business development professionals, promoted the formation of locally embedded knowledge and competence. This in turn created a spatial path dependency that made developments gravitate towards Sweden, although the lack of domestic markets has also increasingly driven an expansion of activity to other regions, in particular the UK. Moreover, the analysis shows that shaping, and not only stimulating, the growth of emerging TIS is an important challenge for regional policymakers, and highlights the need for international policy coordination. The paper concludes that analyzing shaping factors in the emergence of new TISs can yield important insights, some of which may be overlooked with a narrow analytical focus on supporting and blocking factors.
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| 9. |
- Hellsmark, Hans, 1974, et al.
(author)
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Innovation policies for advanced biorefinery development: key considerations and lessons from Sweden
- 2017
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In: Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining. - : Wiley. - 1932-1031 .- 1932-104X. ; 11:1, s. 28-40
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper provides an innovation systems perspective on the combination of policy instruments that will be required to stimulate technological development in the advanced biorefinery field. We first consult the established innovation policy literature, and provide a general framework that can be used to identify the type of policy instruments needed to develop new sustainable technology. In a second step, we illustrate how these general principles can be applied in the context of future biorefineries based on either the thermochemical or biochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass feedstocks. We draw heavily on the experiences of biorefinery development in Sweden. A central conclusion is that in Sweden, and elsewhere, there are few niche markets for advanced biorefineries and a lack of long-term policy instruments for the more established renewable fuels. For this reason, there is a need for innovation policy instruments that create markets for renewable fuels and green chemicals, thus supporting technology development during a niche market phase and allowing for the first commercial-scale plants to be built. The aim of such a policy would be to stimulate learning, form value chains, and experiment with various design options on a larger scale; this complements the use of technology-neutral policy instruments such as carbon pricing, which primarily promotes the diffusion of mature technologies. The policy instruments that are candidates for the niche market phase include, for example, public procurement and various types of price guarantees.
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| 10. |
- Gosens, Jorrit, 1980, et al.
(author)
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The limits of academic entrepreneurship: Conflicting expectations about commercialization and innovation in China's nascent sector for advanced bio-energy technologies
- 2018
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In: Energy Research and Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296. ; 37, s. 1-11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Despite many years of substantial government research funding, advanced bio-energy technologies in China have seen limited commercial application. Chinese policy makers are increasingly critical of academic organizations for neglecting their role in the transfer of scientific results into industrial applications. We interviewed a selection of Chinese research groups working on bio-energy technologies, and asked them to describe their efforts at commercialization. We found that they focus their research on technological pathways with commercial potential, they patent and attempt to license their technologies, they are highly involved in large scale demonstration plants, and have created a number of new firms. Industry and government may have unrealistic expectations on the maturity and scale of technologies that academia can develop, however. These findings contrast with many earlier analyses of early commercialization stages of novel technologies, which have commonly identified lacking academic entrepreneurship as a root cause in stalling development.
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