Reaping the advantages of diverse alternatives: managing multi-technology interaction to

This study addresses the lack of socio-political aspects in the literature addressing multitechnology
interactions between sustainable technologies. Technologies do not exist in
isolation but can compete, develop in parallel, or support each other's development in one or
both directions. In the literature on innovations and sustainability transitions, which present
radical changes of socio-technical systems, such interactions have only recently been
addressed (Andersen & Markard, 2019; Bakker, van Lente, & Engels, 2012; Sandén & Hillman,
2011). However, the studies do not pay attention, to how these interactions come about in
the socio-political context, for example through strategies of organizations. To address this
issue, the purpose of this study will be exploring (logics behind) the behaviour of
organizations towards multiple sustainable technologies, which were developed but have not
yet widely diffused to replace status-quo technologies. An example for this are the
technologies of battery-electric vehicles (BEV), hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEV), and
synthetic fuels vis-à-vis the established technology of diesel- and gasoline-powered vehicles.
The study will be framed by a conceptual framework developed on the basis of theories of
socio-political influence, which have been used to study the development and diffusion of
single technologies. To gather data, a case study design with a mixed methods approach will
be employed. Empirical data will be collected for the focus case of synthetic fuels and their
interaction with other alternative drives, such as BEV, in the heavy-duty road transport
sector. In the two contexts of Germany and Sweden, a media analysis and a survey will yield
data on how central system actors, such as regulators, producers, and users, view the
interactions between technologies, how they act upon these views, and what their reasons
are. Subsequently, interviews will be conducted with actors of each of the three groups to
explore views, activities, and reasons in more depth. Expected results are that expectations
regarding technology development and interaction, lead organizations to strategically
support some technologies while dismissing others and thereby shaping the societal
perceptions of these technologies. Shedding light on these social underpinnings of multitechnology
interaction, will allow policy-makers to better target the activities of
organizations towards the aim of accelerating sustainability transitions. Organizations
themselves can use the results to reflect on their own expectations and assumptions and
consider strategies beyond competition.