This study proposes and tests a number of hypotheses about opinion leaders in the domain of consumer electronics and their use of external search channels. Based on the results of a survey among 1872 consumers, opinion leaders in the domain of consumer electronics are found to most likely be...

Technological options can be regarded as variations in an evolutionary development process. The variations are put forward by their respective technological communities and are selected by technology selectors. Building on the notion of quasi-evolutionary technology development we show how...

In this paper we analyse the dynamics of three emerging innovation systems by using the system functions approach in which the underlying key activities that contribute to the build up of an innovation system are identified. The insights gained with respect to the dynamic functional patterns...

We contribute to the understanding of how technologies may be perceived to be part of technology clusters. The value added of the paper is both at a theoretical and empirical level. We add to the theoretical understanding of technology clusters by distinguishing between clusters in perceptions...

This paper reviews three strands of the innovation literature that have presented innovation as a distributed process that combines knowledge of users, designers and manufacturers: user innovations, Science and Technology Studies (STS), and the study of consumption. These literatures have...

Innovation is a process that involves searching for new information. This paper builds upon theoretical insights on individual and organizational learning and proposes a knowledge based model of how actors search for information when confronted with innovation. The model takes into account...

Understanding the emergence of innovation systems is recently put central in research analysing the process of technological change. Especially the key-activities that are important for the build up of an innovation system receive much attention. These are labeled ‘functions of innovation...

The confrontation of values and interests and an impact in the public realm constitutes a broadly recognised political dimension of technological innovation processes. There is, however, a gap between empirical research into these politics of innovation and normative research into their...

In this paper we review evolutionary economic modelling in relation to environmental policy. We discuss three areas in which evolutionary economic models have a particularly high added value for environmental policy-making: the double externality problem, technological transitions and consumer...

Innovation is an interactive learning process which is of special interest for emerging technologies in which complex complementary knowledge from heterogeneous stakeholders is combined. In the emerging phase of technology development a lot of knowledge is tacit and can only be transferred...