Arenas of expectations for hydrogen technologies

Abstract

Arenas of expectations for hydrogen technologiesBakker, S.; van Lente, H.; Meeus, Marius General rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.-Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research -You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain -You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright, please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Technological development is often described as an evolutionary process of variation, selection and retention. Different technologies are seen as variations, while the market and other institutions operate as a selection environment. It is less understood, however, how variation and selection relate in the case of emerging technologies. In this paper we introduce the concept of arenas of expectations to examine the relationship between variation and selection processes. Expectations are of particular interest in a pre-market phase of innovation, when performance, cost and other market criteria are less articulated and not stable. In arenas of expectations 'enactors' of particular technological variations voice and maintain expectations, while 'selectors' will compare and assess the competing claims. We analyse the expectations work of both parties in a case study on metal hydrides for the on-board storage of hydrogen for automotive applications. The paper concludes with a framework of 'arenas of expectations' as the linchpin between the processes of variation and selection of emerging technologies.

What is an Emerging Technology?

“…made and Suurs, 2012;Bakker et al, 2011;van Lente and Bakker, 2010 These studies have been retrospective, but their data sources are contemporaneous with technology emergence so the method could be extended to contemporary analyses. Moreover, mapping of expectations can be combined with scientometrics when suitable data become available.…”

Credibility and legitimacy in policy-driven innovation networks: resource dependencies and expectations in Dutch electric vehicle subsidies

“…This grants certain legitimacy to the technology they are expressed about, which can lead to both public and private funding. Assessment of the credibility of expectations and of the actors that express them are made continuously (Bakker, Van Lente et al 2011). This greatly influences the legitimacy of the emerging technology.…”

“…Deeds et al (2004) and Rao et al (2008) form notable exceptions, but their studies are limited to firms only, while we study consortia that consist of firms and knowledge institutes such as universities. Further, much of the empirical research concerning the role of expectations and their credibility in innovation dynamics relates to effects on entire scientific and technological communities (van Lente and Rip 1998;Bakker, Van Lente et al 2011). However, there are no studies that specifically focus on the benefits of articulating expectations for individual actors when funds are actually distributed.…”

Alliance strategy: context, process, and requirements

“…In a hybrid example, organizations selected promising academic and technological innovations to pursue (Bakker et al, 2011). Organizations, taking generic concepts into account, thus develop new concepts for their own business and relationships with value chain partners.…”

“…(Bakker et al, 2011;Berends et al, 2011). This could turn out to be a complex, sensitive and at times political process (Hall et al, 2013;Lorell, 1980;Uiterwijk et al, 2013).…”