MSc thesis defence Dewi Mombarg: The Politics of Niche Protection: which innovation will be protected and which not?

You are hereby cordially invited to the MSc thesis presentation by Dewi Mombarg on ‘The Politics of Niche Protection: which innovation will be protected and which not? A battery electric vehicle case study in the Netherlands’.

Supervisor: Robbert Biesbroek
Examinor: Katrien Termeer

Date: 21.6.2023
Time: 10.30-12.00 hours CET
Location: online, MS Teams link: Click here to join the meeting

Full title: The Politics of Niche Protection: which innovation will be protected and which not? A battery electric vehicle case study in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT:
Niche protection (a protective space for radical sustainable innovations), is a crucial but underdeveloped concept in sustainability transition literature. While sustainability transitions often originate from the niche, where radical sustainable innovations are protected, current concepts and frameworks cannot explain how niche protection is created. This study argues that the creation of niche protection is an inherently political process between niche and regime actors that apply strategies to accommodate or restrict niche protection for radical sustainable innovations. It is problematic that these underlying processes that steer niche protection are unknown, as it indicates inefficient sustainability transitions. Therefore, a novel theoretical framework is created by adding a political lens from governance networks to explore the politics of niche protection. The framework has been applied to a battery electric vehicle case study in the Netherlands to answer why some radical sustainable innovations of battery electric vehicles receive niche protection and others do not.