Issue 2

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    Science, Technology & Innovation Studies Vol. 3, No 2, December 2007
    (Technische Universität Dortmund, 2007-12) Schulz-Schaeffer, Ingo; Werle, Raymund; Weyer, Johannes
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    Ethics vs. Innovation?
    (Technische Universität Dortmund, 2007-12) Fink, Simon
    The article assesses the empirical veracity of the frequently heard thesis that strict embryo research laws can hinder innovation in embryo and stem cell research, and thereby impede the innovative ability of the medical biotech sector. Based on a comparative study of the OECD countries, and case-study material, the article argues that this thesis can only partly be confirmed. Strict embryo research laws are associated with a lower innovation quota in stem cell research. But this correlation mostly reflects stable structural differences between national innovation systems rather than dynamics triggered by policy measures. Permissive embryo research laws are not automatically associated with an innovative biotechnology sector, and the innovativeness sometimes is a partly unintended consequence, rather than the result of an active political strategy. The results of the analysis caution against undue simplified theses on the impact regulation can have on the innovative ability of national economies. If there are impacts of embryo research laws on the innovative ability of the biotech sector, they will be visible only in the long term. Shortterm political steering efforts have to be judged very sceptically.
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    The Expansion of Renewable Energies in Germany between Niche Dynamics and System Integration
    (Technische Universität Dortmund, 2007-12) Mautz, Rüdiger
    The main assumption is that the expansion of the renewable energies in Germany is not only the result of technical innovations, but also the outcome of specific social and institutional innovation processes. The article first examines the reasons for the increasing diffusion of renewable energies. Some attention will be directed to the relevance of political regulation and to actor networks, which have been important for the process of innovation. Secondly, the question will be discussed if there is another side to the rapid growth of the sector for renewable energies, in the sense of specific problems and ambivalent results caused by the growth. One example could be conflicts, which emerge from divergent interests of actors involved or from the risks of technological niche promotion. The third main topic takes as its point of departure the fact that the relationship between the 'renewables' and the traditional industry of power generation was marked from the outset by competing paradigms. The renewable energies could at first only be propagated in small niches, which had to be protected by political regulation. The question will be discussed whether the increasing expansion of the niches causes growing problems with integrating the renewable energies into the given centralized electricity system and what kind of different interests and ideas about system integration have to be taken into consideration.
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    Interviewing Scientists
    (Technische Universität Dortmund, 2007-12) Laudel, Grit; Gläser, Jochen
    With this article, we would like to initiate a discussion about a methodological problem that is central to many empirical science studies but has received far too little attention, namely scientifically informed interviewing. To what extent do we have to understand scientists work scientifically in order to explain their behaviour sociologically? As far as it is existent at all, the methodological debate in science studies has focused on ethnographic observations. In this debate, the two approaches of naïve observation and informed observation (which sometimes takes the form of native observation) can be distinguished. The general methodology of ethnographic observation clearly favours the informed approach, as does the general methodology of qualitative interviewing. Scientifically informed interviewing specifies this general methodological insight for science studies but is also necessary because in some investigations we must systematically collect data on the content of our respondents research. This kind of interviewing requires extensive preparation of interviews, the construction of an ad hoc - pidgin for the communication during the interview and the negotiation of an appropriate level of scientific depth between the interviewer and the interviewee. We make suggestions how to solve these tasks (and how not to) and discuss limitations of the approach of informed interviewing.
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    Editorial
    (Technische Universität Dortmund, 2007-12) Schulz-Schaeffer, Ingo; Werle, Raymond; Weyer, Johannes