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Local and global dynamics of expectations in the Dutch niche development trajectory of micro-combined heat & power boilers

Speek, Ralf (2012) Local and global dynamics of expectations in the Dutch niche development trajectory of micro-combined heat & power boilers.

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Abstract:The emergence of new technologies is often accompanied by a lot of uncertainty for the actors involved. Thus is especially the case for radical technologies that are able to cause wide-ranging changes to the structures of production and consumption. Because of this uncertainty, knowledge of the future is desired but since robust knowledge is impossible to acquire, actors have to rely on expectations instead. These new radical technologies are often technically and financially incapable of competing with existing technologies on the market place and these technologies therefore have to be developed in protected environments, so-called niches. Expectations that are shared in these niches by a wide community can be called global niche expectations and these expectations are carried over a variety of local test projects that together form the backbone of the niche. In early analysis of niche development trajectories (early strategic niche management) as well as current common models of innovation (the hype cycle of the Gartner Group), the development of expectations in development trajectories is conceptualized as a one-dimensional process in which facts and expectations are checked in local projects. High hopes about a particular technology collapse when project results fail to live up to the high expectations. Alternative models of innovation sketched a more nuanced picture in which expectations are seen as social constructs that are possibly influenced by a number of factors, including factors from outside the innovation field. In my thesis I will look whether this more nuanced picture can also be found in the innovation field of Stirling micro-Combined Heat & Power boilers in the Netherlands.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:50 technical science in general
Programme:Philosophy of Science, Technology and Society MSc (60024)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/63466
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