IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/aoe/wpaper/2110.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Transitions as a coevolutionary process: the urban emergence of electric vehicle inventions

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Ferloni

    (Institute of Geography and Sustainability (IGD), University of Lausanne- UNIL)

Abstract

The transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is a coevolutionary process involving at least three sectors—EV, battery, and smart grid—in replacing combustion cars. This paper contributes to research on the geography of transitions by linking increased relatedness between technologies over time with their co-location, exploring the spatial emergence of transition industries and the role of local economic systems in enabling it. Patent citations are used to construct three main paths from 1920 to 2020 that permit to geolocate key inventions and to elaborate on the role of cities in supporting knowledge exchanges and recombinations. The case study suggests that a coevolutionary perspective can contribute to understanding the geography of transitions in three ways: by showing how new technology configurations imply varying power relations between industrial fields, by elaborating on the capacity of urban regions to adapt to these, and by illustrating the role of actors and networks in this process.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Ferloni, 2021. "Transitions as a coevolutionary process: the urban emergence of electric vehicle inventions," GEIST - Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions 2021(10), GEIST Working Paper Series.
    • Handle: RePEc:aoe:wpaper:2110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.geist-wp.com/papers/geist_wp_2110.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frank Neffke & Martin Henning & Ron Boschma, 2011. "How Do Regions Diversify over Time? Industry Relatedness and the Development of New Growth Paths in Regions," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(3), pages 237-265, July.
    2. Bart Verspagen, 2007. "Mapping Technological Trajectories As Patent Citation Networks: A Study On The History Of Fuel Cell Research," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 10(01), pages 93-115.
    3. Geels, Frank W., 2014. "Reconceptualising the co-evolution of firms-in-industries and their environments: Developing an inter-disciplinary Triple Embeddedness Framework," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 261-277.
    4. Mirzadeh Phirouzabadi, Amir & Savage, David & Blackmore, Karen & Juniper, James, 2020. "The evolution of dynamic interactions between the knowledge development of powertrain systems," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-16.
    5. André Torre & Frédéric Wallet (ed.), 2014. "Regional Development and Proximity Relations," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14813.
    6. Phil Cooke, 2014. "Relatedness and transversality in spatial paradigms and regimes," Chapters, in: André Torre & Frédéric Wallet (ed.), Regional Development and Proximity Relations, chapter 3, pages 135-160, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Vanessa Oltra & Maïder Saint Jean, 2006. "Variety of technological trajectories in low emission vehicles (LEVs): a patent data analysis," Post-Print hal-00155042, HAL.
    8. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    9. Andre Torre & Alain Rallet, 2005. "Proximity and Localization," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 47-59.
    10. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2004. "Micro-foundations of urban agglomeration economies," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: J. V. Henderson & J. F. Thisse (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 48, pages 2063-2117, Elsevier.
    11. Carlsson, B & Stankiewicz, R, 1991. "On the Nature, Function and Composition of Technological Systems," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 93-118, April.
    12. Colin Webb & Hélène Dernis & Dietmar Harhoff & Karin Hoisl, 2005. "Analysing European and International Patent Citations: A Set of EPO Patent Database Building Blocks," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2005/9, OECD Publishing.
    13. Hélène Dernis & Mosahid Khan, 2004. "Triadic Patent Families Methodology," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2004/2, OECD Publishing.
    14. Binz, Christian & Truffer, Bernhard & Coenen, Lars, 2014. "Why space matters in technological innovation systems—Mapping global knowledge dynamics of membrane bioreactor technology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 138-155.
    15. Dijk, Marc & Wells, Peter & Kemp, René, 2016. "Will the momentum of the electric car last? Testing an hypothesis on disruptive innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 77-88.
    16. Marc Wolfram & Niki Frantzeskaki, 2016. "Cities and Systemic Change for Sustainability: Prevailing Epistemologies and an Emerging Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ron Boschma & Carlo Gianelle, 2014. "Regional Branching and Smart Specialisation Policy," JRC Research Reports JRC88242, Joint Research Centre.
    2. van Rijnsoever, Frank J. & van den Berg, Jesse & Koch, Joost & Hekkert, Marko P., 2015. "Smart innovation policy: How network position and project composition affect the diversity of an emerging technology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 1094-1107.
    3. Binz, Christian & Truffer, Bernhard, 2017. "Global Innovation Systems—A conceptual framework for innovation dynamics in transnational contexts," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1284-1298.
    4. Martin Andersson & Johan P. Larsson, 2022. "Mysteries of the trade? Skill-specific local agglomeration economies," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(9), pages 1538-1553, September.
    5. Basco, Rodrigo, 2015. "Family business and regional development—A theoretical model of regional familiness," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 259-271.
    6. Jonas Heiberg & Bernhard Truffer, 2021. "The emergence of a global innovation system – a case study from the water sector," GEIST - Geography of Innovation and Sustainability Transitions 2021(09), GEIST Working Paper Series.
    7. Maryline Filippi, 2014. "Using the Regional Advantage: French Agricultural Cooperatives' Economic and Governance Tool," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 85(4), pages 597-615, December.
    8. Margarida Madaleno & Max Nathan & Henry Overman & Sevrin Waights, 2018. "Incubators, accelerators and regional economic development," CEP Discussion Papers dp1575, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    9. Hidalgo, César A., 2023. "The policy implications of economic complexity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    10. Shengjun Zhu & Canfei He & Qian Luo, 2019. "Good neighbors, bad neighbors: local knowledge spillovers, regional institutions and firm performance in China," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(3), pages 617-632, March.
    11. Ana Maria Bonomi Barufi & Eduardo Amaral Haddad & Peter Nijkamp, 2016. "Industrial scope of agglomeration economies in Brazil," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 56(3), pages 707-755, May.
    12. Abbasiharofteh, Milad & Kinne, Jan & Krüger, Miriam, 2021. "The strength of weak and strong ties in bridging geographic and cognitive distances," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-049, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Juan Eduardo Chica & Carlos Marmolejo, 2016. "Knowledge economy and metropolitan growth: Barcelona and Helsinki metropolitan areas as case studies," International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(1), pages 22-42.
    14. Stefano Breschi & Camilla Lenzi, 2015. "The Role of External Linkages and Gatekeepers for the Renewal and Expansion of US Cities' Knowledge Base, 1990-2004," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 782-797, May.
    15. Margarida Madaleno & Max Nathan & Henry Overman & Sevrin Waights, 2022. "Incubators, accelerators and urban economic development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(2), pages 281-300, February.
    16. Stefano Basilico & Uwe Cantner & Holger Graf, 2023. "Policy influence in the knowledge space: a regional application," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 591-622, April.
    17. Renato Garcia & Veneziano Araújo & Suelene Mascarini & Emerson Gomes Dos Santos & Ariana Ribeiro Costa, 2018. "An Analysis Of The Relation Between Geographical And Cognitive Proximity In University-Industry Linkages," Anais do XLIV Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 44th Brazilian Economics Meeting] 132, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    18. Mikhail Martynovich & Josef Taalbi, 2020. "Related variety, recombinant knowledge and regional innovation. Evidence for Sweden, 1991-2010," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2015, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Mar 2020.
    19. Giorgio Prodi & Federico Frattini & Francesco Nicolli, 2018. "The diffusion and embeddedness of innovative activities in China," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(1), pages 71-106, April.
    20. Taalbi, Josef, 2020. "Evolution and structure of technological systems - An innovation output network," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Coevolution; Electric Vehicle; Geography of transitions; Large Urban Regions; Patent networks; Main path analysis;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aoe:wpaper:2110. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Johan Miörner (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.geist-wp.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.