97 research outputs found
Understanding system innovations : a critical literature review and a conceptual synthesis
No full textno abstrac
Socio-technical scenarios as a tool for transition policy : an example from the traffic and transport domain
No full textModern societies face huge challenges related to existing socio-technical systems which are difficult to tackle without fundmental change. An example is the agriculture-food system with various unsustainable features like BSE, foot and mouth disease, high nitrous emissions, etc. Another example is watersupply with symptoms like floodings, soil dehydration, water quality problems. Also the transport system faces structural problems like congestion, atmosferic pollution (NOx and particulates), and CO2-emissions. Such problems are deeply rooted in societal structures and institutions and are closely related to societal processes. To solve such problems fundamentally requires transitions or system innovations as is argued in the fourth Dutch National Environmental Policy Plan (VROM 2001).
A transition in this sense denotes a long-term development process in an encompassing system that fulfills a basic societal function like feeding, mobility, energy, communication, etc. A transition implies a drastic change of the technical as well as the societal and cultural diminsions of such a system. This emphasis on coevolution of technical and societal change distinguishes transitions from more incremental processes of innovation which are primarily characterised by technnical development (successive generations of technologies) while the societal embedding of these technologies changes relatively little (cf. Geels in this volume)
A Momentum-Guided Frank-Wolfe Algorithm
No full textWith the well-documented popularity of Frank Wolfe (FW) algorithms in machine learning tasks, the present paper establishes links between FW subproblems and the notion of momentum emerging in accelerated gradient methods (AGMs). On the one hand, these links reveal why momentum is unlikely to be effective for FW-type algorithms on general problems. On the other hand, it is established that momentum accelerates FW on a class of signal processing and machine learning applications. Specifically, it is proved that a momentum variant of FW, here termed accelerated Frank Wolfe (AFW), converges with a faster rate on such a family of problems, despite the same rate of FW on general cases. Distinct from existing fast convergent FW variants, the faster rates here rely on parameter-free step sizes. Numerical experiments on benchmarked machine learning tasks corroborate the theoretical findings
Feelings of discontent and the promise of middle range theory for STS: Examples from technology dynamics
No full textThis article critically discusses the state of STS, expressing feelings of discontent regarding four aspects: policy relevance, conceptual language, too much focus on complexity, theoretical styles. Middle range theory is proposed as an alternative, promising avenue. Middle range theories focus on delimited topics, make explicit efforts to combine concepts, and search for abstracted patterns and explanatory mechanisms. The article presents achievements in that direction for technology dynamics, particularly with regard to the role of expectations, niche theory and radical innovation, and the multi-level perspective on sociotechnical transitions
Cultural legitimacy and innovation journeys : a new perspective applied to Dutch and British nuclear power
No full textAircraft hydraulic power system diagnostic, prognostics and health management
No full textThis Individual Research Project (IRP) is the extension research to the group design project (GDP) work which the author has participated in his Msc programme. The GDP objective is to complete the conceptual design of a 200-seat, flying wing civil airliner—FW-11. The next generation aircraft design demands higher reliability, safety and maintainability.
With the development of the vehicle hydraulic system technology, the equipment and systems become more and more complex, their reliability and maintenance become more difficult for designers, manufacturers and customers. To improve the mission reliability and reduce life cycle cost, there is strong demand for the application of health management technology into airframe system design.
In this research, the author introduced diagnostic, prognostic and health management (DPHM) concept into the aircraft hydraulic power system development. As a brand new technology, it is a challenge to apply the DPHM techniques to on-board system. Firstly, an assumed hydraulic power system was designed for FW-11 by the author and used as the case in his IRP research. Then the crucial components and key parameters needed to be monitored were obtained based on Function Hazard Analysis and Failure Modes Effects Analysis of this system. The writer compared a few diagnostic and prognostic methods in detail, and then selected suitable ones for a hydraulic power system. A diagnostic process was applied to the hydraulic power system using a Case-based reasoning (CBR) approach, whilst a hybrid prognostic method was suggested for the system. After that, a diagnostic, prognostic and health management (DPHM) architecture of the hydraulic power system was designed at system level based on the diagnostic and prognostic research. The whole research work provided a general and practical instruction for hydraulic system design by means of DPHM application
Multi-level perspective on system innovation: relevance for industrial transformation
No full textWithout abstract
From sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems: Insights about dynamics and change from sociology and institutional theory
No full textIn the last decade ‘sectoral systems of innovation’ have emerged as a new approach in innovation studies. This article makes four contributions to the approach by addressing some open issues. The first contribution is to explicitly incorporate the user side in the analysis. Hence, the unit of analysis is widened from sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems. The second contribution is to suggest an analytical distinction between systems, actors involved in them, and the institutions which guide actor’s perceptions and activities. Thirdly, the article opens up the black box of institutions, making them an integral part of the analysis. Institutions should not just be used to explain inertia and stability. They can also be used to conceptualise the dynamic interplay between actors and structures. The fourth contribution is to address issues of change from one system to another. The article provides a coherent conceptual multi-level perspective, using insights from sociology, institutional theory and innovation studies. The perspective is particularly useful to analyse long-term dynamics, shifts from one socio-technical system to another and the co-evolution of technology and society
Co-evolution of technology and society: The multi-level perspective and a case study, the transition in water supply and personal hygiene in the Netherlands (1850-1930)
No full textThis article deals with the systems level in Freeman and Perez's innovation typology (incremental, radical, system, techno-economic paradigm). Transitions at this level are understood as changes from one socio-technical system to another, involving co-evolution of technology and society. To understand these transitions, the article describes a multi-level perspective, based on insights from sociology of technology and evolutionary economics. This perspective is used to analyse a detailed historical case study, the transition from surface water to piped water and personal hygiene (1870–1930). By the middle of the 19th century, problems in the water supply regime grew worse, as expanding urban populations dumped their waste in canals and surface waters. Local conditions in some specific cities provided space for the first piped water systems in the 1850s. Problems in the water supply regime grew worse in the 1860s and 1870s, but public authorities in other cities did not embrace the new niche. Instead, they searched for solutions within the existing regime. Only after wider landscape developments in the 1880s and 1890s (economic, cultural, political) could the niche break through and trigger wider transformations. So external macro-developments played a crucial role in the take-off and diffusion phase of this transition. This transition is a good example of co-evolution of technology and society, involving technological innovations, such as piped water infrastructure, soap, toilets, baths, as well as cultural, political, economic and behavioural changes. The case study illustrates how the multi-level perspective can be used to analyse how these changes influenced each other in a co-evolution process. The article thus fits in the growing literature on co-evolution. While most literatures look at co-evolution between two or three aspects, this article develops a broader understanding of co-evolution
Major system change through stepwise reconfiguration : a multi-level analysis of the transformation of American factory production (1850-1930)
No full textThe common view is that major transitions come about through breakthroughs of technological discontinuities. This article proposes gradual and stepwise reconfiguration as an alternative transition pathway. In it, new elements are adopted in the existing socio-technical regime to help solve particular problems. But as more is learned and circumstances change, these elements may trigger further changes in technology, user practice, infrastructure, and policies, eventually altering the basic architecture of the regime. These notions are integrated in a multi-level perspective on transitions and system changes. The resulting reconfiguration perspective is illustrated with a historical case study of the transition from traditional factories to mass production in America (1850–1930). The analysis shows that mass production was the last step in a much longer reconfiguration process involving cumulative changes in machine tools, building materials, materials handling technologies, power generation, and power-distribution technologies. The reconfiguration perspective has wider relevance for other systems that function through the interplay of multiple technologies, e.g., agriculture, retailing, and hospitals.
Keywords: Transition; Reconfiguration; Multi-level perspective; Factory productio
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