Fuel cell adventures. Dynamics of a technological community in a quasi-market of technological options

In this paper some insights from a social science perspective in the dynamics of the fuel cell community will be provided. An important concept used in the analysis is that of a 'quasi'-market of technological options. The strategic choices of actors for certain technological options can be regarded as analogous to choices of consumers made on a market. A scientometric research approach has been used to investigate the aggregate effects of this and other variations of strategic behaviour. These concepts and analyses are shown to be helpful in answering questions such as why fuel cells art: so popular today whereas they have not always been, and why preferences for different types of fuel cells shift over time. At the end of the paper the relevance of these kind of analyses for technology forecasting and management practices is briefly discussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.