Comparing Alternative Path Creation Frameworks in the Context of Emerging Biofuel Fields in the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland

Abstract

Several studies on innovation have brought forward different conceptions on how innovations and new technological paths are created. Theoretical arguments differ regarding the foundational ontologies and the major factors influencing path formation. The article aims to compare two strands of literature related to new path formation: (1) strategic niche management and the related multi-level perspective and (2) technological innovation systems. The article examines how these models operate in the context of empirical analyses hypothesizing that there may be fewer differences in empirical results than in theoretical argumentation and that new empirical findings can give a good impetus also for theoretical elaborations. Thus, the article compares empirical analyses made in the same context, namely the transport biofuel field. The actual development of biofuel fields in the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland are also compared. Our analysis suggests some areas in which the two theoretical frameworks might be developed to take recent empirical observations and the spatial dimension better into account.