In this paper we develop and use mapping tools to investigate emerging technological fields by studying the dynamics of expectations, agenda building and early networks. In our approach, expectations describe shared beliefs with regard to prospective entities and positions. Agendas are sets of priorities present to guide the actors in their work. The structure that arises as a result of the actions and interactions of actors is the emerging network. For emerging technologies these processes are susceptible to change and the technological paths that may arise are still easy to influence. We propose that not only looking at expectation dynamics, but also including agenda setting and networks dynamics is essential in order to successfully capture the complexities of the emergence of technological paths. A major challenge for this work lies in unveiling the socio-technical dynamics leading to path emergence. For this purpose we investigate the phenomena of irreversibilities that emerge during the ongoing interactions of researchers, institutes, policy makers and firms. With these aspects in mind, we will use a broadened view of expectation dynamics in order to arrive at an improved understanding of the building blocks of path emergence. We illustrate our approach with a case study of Labon-a-chip technology for medical and pharmaceutical applications.
How are the perceptions of industrial agents affected by newly emerging technological fields? One way to investigate this is to explore the prospective roles that companies involved attribute to themselves and to others by using positioning theory as the point of departure. An appropriate example of an emerging technology to study is theranostics (dedicated diagnostics linked with therapy) given that this affects multiple, relatively unrelated, industries (old and new) simultaneously. By studying annual reports we gain insight into how industries react strategically towards emerging technological fields. We also make a contribution to positioning theory itself.
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