This report presents part of the results of GIST-Governance of Innovation for Sustainable Transport, a 3-year research project funded by Formas and conducted in collaboration between IMIT-Institute for Management of Innovation and Technology and SEI-Stockholm Environment Institute. The project uses a functional approach to Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) (Carlsson & Stankiewicz, 1991; Hekkert et al. 2007; Bergek et al., 2008) to describe and analyse the development and implementation of more sustainable road transport technologies. It further addresses how such developments can be supported by different kinds of governance arrangements.
The GIST research project combines the TIS approach with a multi-level perspective,...
This chapter describes hybrid-electric vehicle technology developments 1990-2010 in four consecutive time periods. Each of these periods comprises developments on two different levels. Firstly it describes an international governance and industry dynamics level, covering global public debates, and vehicle industry activities, as well as oil price fluctuations, and international policies and regulation affecting hybrid-electric vehicles technology development. Secondly, it describes a Swedish governance and industry level, covering national policies, regulation and industry activities in the area of hybrid-electric vehicle technology. A brief summary concludes each section.
Although several different concept vehiclesâ¶ have been displayed ever since the birth of the...
This chapter assesses how the functionality of the Swedish hybrid-electric vehicle technological innovation system evolved 1990-2010, using six critical sub-processes (Hekkert et al., 2007; Bergek et al., 2008; Hillman et al., 2011):
1. Knowledge development and diffusion: The generation of breadth and depth of the knowledge base of the TIS, and the diffusion and combination of knowledge, taking into account different types of knowledge (e.g. scientific, applied, patents) from different sources.
2. Influence on direction of search: The existence of incentives and/or pressures for actors to enter the TIS, and to direct their activities towards certain parts within the TIS (e.g. technologies,...
The assessment of the Swedish hybrid-electric vehicle TIS outlined in the previous chapter shows how the functionality varied significantly between 1990 and 2010. The 1990s was characterized by a number of experimentation, testing and demonstration activities. These activities were primarily justified by a need to remedy urban air quality problems. Governance arrangements in terms of pending regulation made it urgent for vehicle manufacturers to address these problems. The Californian ZEV mandate probably is the most well-known example of governance arrangements in this direction. Worth noting is that among alternative propulsion technologies, battery-electric vehicles appeared as the favored alternative by regulators...