The power of large technological visions

Over het proefschrift:
Promising technology is often accompanied by large expectations. These new technologies are frequently envisioned to change society for the better and to solve contemporary problems.  Even though these visions do not come about as originally stated, the existence and wide acceptance of these expectations can influence developments in accordance with the vision. 

This thesis focused on the power of such Large Technological Visions (LTVs) by analyzing visions of hydrogen energy. The vision of large scale hydrogen use gained widespread attention in the 1970s and the early 2000s. Especially in this later period, actions were taken to work towards such a future energy system. This research focused on how such an LTV gains influence and the actions taken upon its realization.

Case studies are used to analyze the framing, sharing, and guiding properties of LTVs. The case study on framing analyzes the origin, content and development of the hydrogen economy vision in the period 1970-2010. Special attention is paid to the academic community since this community proved instrumental for the founding of the vision. The sharing and the guiding properties of the vision are studied by analyzing USA and Californian hydrogen policy in relation to the developments in pioneering projects. 

This thesis shows that the ability of a vision to become shared and to guide actions does not necessarily depend on its feasibility. An LTV is attractive because of its large scope and large promises. An LTV can exist for a long time, when circumstances change, and become more favorable for the vision to flourish, the vision can become omnipresent. In such a period, actions for realizing the vision temporarily accelerate. Because of the guiding properties of these visions, it is important to analyze LTVs and the power these visions entail.

Over de auteur:
Marloes Dignum studied Technology and Society at Eindhoven University of Technology and graduated with appreciation in 2006. As part of this master program she studied at the University of California, Berkeley and performed her Master's thesis research in cooperation with Energy research Center of The Netherlands (ECN). Her Master thesis focused on the transition towards sustainable mobility and incorporated both scientific contributions and policy advice. The next step was a Ph.D. research at the School of Innovation Sciences at Eindhoven University of Technology of which the results are presented in this dissertation. The results of this research received international attention and were presented at conferences such as SHOT and EASST/4S. The research was also discussed at international workshops such as Negotiating the future at the University of Oslo and Expectations Building and Innovation processes at Eawag Aquatic Research, Dubendorf, Zurich. Marloes is a member of the Knowledge Network for System Innovations and Transitions (KSI) and she participated in courses of the Netherlands Graduate Research School of Science, Technology, and Modern Culture (WTMC). Marloes is currently employed as postdoctoral researcher at Delft University of Technology.