Strategic Niche Management (SNM) beyond sustainability. An exploration of key findings of SNM through the lens of ICT and privacy

Recently the governance of socio-technical transitions to sustainability is gaining attention in the field of innovation studies. One particular approach is that of Strategic Niche Management (SNM), which advocates the creation of protected space to experiment with radically new sustainable socio-technical practices. This paper contributes by asking whether this approach is also useful for analysis and governance of other types of socially desirable change. This question is addressed through a review of six key-findings of Strategic Niche Management and an original case study in the field of Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies for mobile payment. The social value at stake in this case is not sustainability but privacy. We draw three main conclusions. First, we find that the key-findings and concepts in SNM for sustainability are helpful to understand and interpret much of the data collected for the NFC case and privacy. However, there are notable differences in each of the key-findings, i.e findings related to a) the local-global distinction in SNM, b) expectations, c) social networks, d) learning, e) protection, and f) niche-regime interactions. Second, in relation to governance, the role of sustainability values (being a promising value to pursue) and privacy values (being a bottom-line value to defend) are notably different. Third, these differences result in different roles of public bodies in niche development. The paper ends with discussing the consequences for SNM for sustainability research and future research topics.Strategic Niche Management, sustainability, NFC, mobile payment, privacy

Strategic Niche Management (SNM) beyond sustainability : an exploration of key findings of SNM through the lens of ICT and privacy

The governance of transitions to sustainability is gaining attention. This paper discusses the approach of strategic niche management (SNM) and contributes by asking whether this approach is also useful for other types of socially desirable change. This question is addressed through a review of six key-findings of SNM and an original case study of Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies for mobile payment. The social value at stake in this case is privacy. We draw three conclusions. First, the key-findings and concepts in SNM for sustainability are helpful to interpret much of the data collected for the NFC case. However, there are also notable differences in each of the key-findings. Second, the role of sustainability values (being a promising value to pursue) and privacy values (being a bottom-line value to defend) are notably different in relation to governance. Third, these differences result in different roles of public bodies in niche development

Translation mechanisms in socio-technical niches : a case study of Dutch river management

This paper makes three contributions to the field of transition research. First, it sheds light on how the concept of translation can contribute to a better understanding of agency in niche development. Second, it articulates how the local-global distinction in the Strategic Niche Management (SNM) approach relates to the levels in the Multi-Level Perspective. Third, the article is empirically novel by presenting a radical sustainable innovation in Dutch water management (‘New Rivers’)