Time strategies in environmental innovation policy: the case of the mobile fuel cell and hydrogen infrastructure

Christian Sartorius

No S4/2007, Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" from Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI)

Abstract: Although fundamental innovations can make especially important contributions to the environmental soundness of economic progress, they are often impeded by path dependency and lock-in on the part of established technologies. Because the intensity of the latter effect changes in time, it is possible to identify and strategically use windows of opportunity - periods in which successful transition is greatly facilitated. In the case of the mobile fuel cell, economies of scale, learning and network effects are among the most important techno-economic determinants of such a window. Other more political determinants are political guidance and supranational agreements. All effects were combined to form a time strategy that allows innovation policy to effectively push the new technology at the lowest possible cost for the economy.

Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:fisisi:s42007

DOI: 10.24406/publica-fhg-293535

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