Negotiating the local embedding of socio-technical experiments: a case study in fuel cell technology

Abstract

Transitions towards more sustainable socio-technical regimes crucially depend on processes of social learning. This paper focuses on the process of selecting and setting up technology learning experiments at the municipal level. It reports on experiences using a constructive technology assessment (CTA) approach to identify and evaluate potential deployment projects in the area of fuel cell technology in Graz, Austria. The results highlight that dialogue processes between R&D actors, municipal actors and intermediary organisations serve well for the identification of suitable niches for socio-technical experiments. However, for the actual implementation of such experiments the limited room for manoeuvre of municipalities and the importance of the coordination of various governance levels need to be taken into account. In particular, tensions may arise between overarching technology policy goals defined at the national level and problem-based approaches applied at the municipal level based on prevalent local issues and needs.

Keywords:

• technology learning
• municipalities
• fuel cells
• CTA
• strategic niche management

Acknowledgements

The research presented within this paper was funded by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology within its programme ‘Factory of Tomorrow’. We thank Halina Szejnwald Brown and Philip Vergragt as well as two anonymous referees for comments on earlier versions of this paper.