The role of innovation in driving economic growth and industrial has been described by Schumpeter (1934) as a “linear model” of innovation that once initiated progresses linearly through consecutive stages and can therefore be stimulated either by investment in R&D (“technology-push”) or by demand for new products and services (“demand-pull”) recent research strands, such as the research on sustainability transitions, on technology innovation systems of transition management (to name a few) emphasises the role and complexity of the system in which new technologies are embedded in.

This seminar gives a brief overview on the current research on sustainability transitions, their contribution and relevance – as well as limitations – for the application in policy making. Furthermore, using the example of the transition towards electric vehicle in the UK and Germany, Chris illustrates how these strands can be used to conduct a simple assessment of current policies.

Biography:

Christoph Mazur is a Climate-KIC and Grantham Institute PhD Student. His current research focuses on the assessment of policy making for the transition towards electric vehicles with respect to environmental and industrial policy targets. He has a background in engineering and economics from RWTH Aachen and Ecole Centrale Paris. In the past he has worked for the automotive industry (Daimler). His research interests are in the domains of socio-technical systems, sustainability transitions, technology diffusion and the assessment of the potential of different low emission technologies.