2022
From Public to Private: Does the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement Impact Upstream Oil & Gas Divestitures?
Time and place: June 8, 2022 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM, Zoom
On the 8th of June, Theodor Cojoianu and August Jepsen will present their ongoing work on oil and gas divestment at an INTRANSIT-seminar. The seminar will be held on zoom and is open to anyone who registers.
Abstract
This article examines whether fossil fuel divestment commitments are related to divestitures of upstream oil and gas assets. The analysis is performed using investment banking transaction data across 66 countries over the period 2000-2018. We find a significant positive relationship between fossil fuel divestment commitments and upstream oil and gas divestitures, particularly for publicly listed companies. However, the divestment movement may have an unintended effect, as the relationship is most robust with transactions involving publicly listed divestors and private company acquirers. We interpret upstream divestitures through institutional theory, understanding how the regulatory and normative environment shape these transactions.
Constructing temporal manoeuvring space: The transition of the car industry to electric cars
Time and place: May 18, 2022 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM, ZOOM
Christina Bidmon (assistant professor, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University) presents her work on the transition towards electric cars.
Abstract
How actors evaluate the prospects of the fields that emerge around novel technologies changes over time. In this study, we employ a framing lens to study how the five largest German car manufacturers communicated about their position on electric vehicles (EVs) and plans to engage in the emerging field during the 25-year period from 1993 to 2018. Based on 125 letters to shareholders and 336 public interviews with CEOs, we find that the car manufacturers dynamically shifted between stirring and tempering expectations about the technology, even at a point when they had committed to electrifying major parts of their portfolios. We introduce the concept of temporal maneuvering space to explain how temporal framing is employed to construct a gap between near and distant future that serves to legitimize the own actions in the present while maintaining ambiguity about the exact timing and scope of future actions. What actors communicate about the prospects of a novel technology and their own plans to engage in emerging fields is relevant because it can guide meaning-making and prospective action in other actors.
Hostile frame takeover: Co-opting the security frame in the German nuclear energy debate
Time: –
Dr. Stephan Bohn (Humboldt institute for Internet and Society and Freie Universität Berlin) presents his work on co-option in framing processes.
Abstract
Despite growing attention to framing contests as important discursive struggles in articulating societal challenges and their solutions, most research focuses on competition over which frame becomes dominant. The process of how macro-level frames themselves are subject to processes of meaning elaboration is less well understood, yet central for understanding field dynamics. In this paper, we focus on how a master frame—seen as relatively stable macro-level meaning structures—can itself get co-opted, such that it is reinterpreted to support a logic of action that is contrary to the original set of meanings. Using a mixed-methods approach, combining topic modeling with qualitative analysis to examine the German nuclear energy media debate, we explore the hostile takeover of the dominant and socially resonant security master frame by atomic power proponents. This led to a complete frame reversal: the security master frame developed from a rationale against atomic power to one in favor of atomic power. We identified the mechanisms behind this process, which involves an intended broadening of the master frame through making it porous and infusing it with new diagnostic claims and then reversing the frame by pointing to conflicts within the broadened meanings, constructing discursive alliances around favored meanings, and selectively retaining the new meanings while detaching the original meanings. We synthesize these findings to offer a theoretical model explaining frame co-optation, which contributes to the literature on frame dynamics and the role of framing in societal and political discourses.
Who receives status when taking responsibility for socio-environmental issues - or why we should be interested in “Others”
Time: May 4, 2022 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
INTRANSIT hosts assistant professor Nadine Arnold (VU Amsterdam) in our internal seminar series. She will present her work on food waste, organizational status, and responsibility.
Abstract
In our paper, we examine the construction of status hierarchies between organisations that take responsibility for socio-environmental issues. Using theoretical insights from sociological and organisational theory on status, we ask how these status hierarchies emerge and who the winners and losers are. Based on the theoretical assumption that organisations derive status from evaluations and relationships, we investigate status hierarchies between organisations proposing different interventions to address the issue of food waste: charities (e.g., food banks), food save businesses, plants and technology companies, alternative food producers and distributors, public sector organizations and interest groups. Using a sequential mixed-methods design, we first use qualitative data to disentangle the evaluative status hierarchy. In a second step, we use information from a survey that included a sociometric module on relationships to trace interorganisational networks and specify the relational status hierarchy. We find that status hierarchies differ and that, paradoxically, the organisations that reduce waste so that it is eaten by humans do not necessarily receive the highest status. Rather, our data show that those organisations (public sector organizations and advocacy groups) that rarely encounter food waste but tell others what they should do best to solve the issue—John W. Meyer (2010) calls them "Others"—are the most admired. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of organisations in solving socio-environmental issues and add to the literature on organisational status. Moreover, they invite critical thinking about responsibility and the way we tackle food waste.
2021
EU-SPRI 2021: Science and Innovation – an uneasy relationship?
Time and place: June 9, 2021 – June 11, 2021, Digital conference
EU-SPRI is an annual conference focused on research and innovation policy.
The theme for EU-SPRI 2021 is "Science and Innovation – an uneasy relationship? Rethinking the roles and relations of STI policies".
This year's conference is organized by the Center for technology, innovation and culture (TIK), in collaboration with NIFU.
The conference is divided into three main themes:
- Addressing the role of research and innovation in times of crises
- Impact, excellence and beyond: Reframing the science-society relationship
- Technology push or societal change - the widening scope of STI policies in sustainability transitions
There will be more than 160 research presentations, and keynote speakers include John-Arne Røttingen, Gemma Derrick, Paula Kivimaa, Susana Borras, Iris Wanzenböeck.
You can find more information on EU-SPRI 2021's own web page [broken link].
EU-SPRI is a European network for studies of Policies for Research and Innovation.
Organiser: INTRANSIT, OSIRIS, NIFU, R-QUEST and Universitet i Oslo
2019
Sustainability Transition in the Brazilian Bioethanol: the role of Oil Companies
Time and place: May 14, 2019 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM, 551
TIK Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture welcomes all interested to this talk by André Furtado. On Tuesday he will talk about the transition to second generation technologies in the Brazilian bioethanol industry.
Sugarcane as biomass
The talk will be about the transition of the Brazilian bioethanol technological innovation system from the first generation to second generation technologies. Sugarcane is one the most promising biomass feedstock for biofuels. However, to take advantage of its potential, this technological system has to become more sustainable, bypass several obstacles as land competition with food crops and land deforestation.
The second-generation biofuels technologies are presently an important promise that can deal with several of these challenges. In effect, sugarcane culture is facing growing difficulties to increase its productivity, due to the exhaustion of the first generation technologies. During long time, these technologies were the engine of technological change in Brazil. At that point, the transition to second-generation technologies, including agricultural modern biotech and enzymatic hydrolysis for industrial process, are great promises that can improve bioethanol land productivity.
Theoretical Approach
The theoretical approach of this research is related to technological innovation systems literature. In the Brazilian case, oil companies are important entrepreneurial actors in this transition. They are engaged in the first generation bioethanol and are protagonist of some of the experiences related second generation technologies. We will focus in this seminar the foreign oil companies and Petrobras strategies related to first and second generation technologies. We also will describe the strategies of pubic actors associated to bioethanol and to energy transition in Brazil.
INTRANSIT kick-off workshop
Time and place: May 7, 2019 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Georg Sverdrups house, Stort Møterom
INTRANSIT is a newly started research centre at the University of Oslo. To this kick-off seminar we welcome colleagues, partners, users and stakeholders to learn about INTRANSIT and to discuss the challenges of industrial transformations towards a smarter and greener Norwegian economy.
The INTRANSIT Centre has one overall mission: To understand how industrial transformation towards a more sustainable and smarter Norwegian economy can be fostered.
The aim of the workshop is to introduce INTRANSIT to researchers, students, stakeholders and potential users, and to share our plans and ambitions. We also want to discuss they key concerns with stakeholders to better understand the main barriers and possibilities for a smart and green shift in our economy.
Program
- 13.00- 13.15: Centre director Taran Thune introduces INTRANSIT
- 13.15-13.45: The era of sustainability transitions and industrial transformation – current knowledge and research gaps(Associate professor Allan Dahl Andersen; TIK & Associate Professor Birthe Soppe, Digent, IFI)
- 13.45 -14.30: Transformations in energy, maritime, aquaculture and manufacturing industries (Professor Taran Thune, TIK & Senior researcher Markus Steen, Sintef Digital)
- 14.30-14.45: The digital transformation (Professor Koen Frenken, Utrecht University)
- 15.00 -15.45: Group discussions addressing three questions:
- What are important drivers for smart and green industrial transformations?
- What are main challenges for transformation in different industries and what steps are taken in response to them?
- To what extent are existing research and innovation policies relevant in alleviating transformation challenges in the Norwegian economy? What gaps exist in the current policy mix?
- INTRANSIT researchers will moderate the group discussions and summarize main points.
- 15.45-16.00: Summary and outlook for INTRANSIT