Technology forcing

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Technology forcing is a concept from industrial policy . It takes place when a legislator defines a new standard that cannot be achieved with currently available technical means or only at very high cost. Such a regulation will force the industry to make more efforts in research and thus to develop new technologies. The success of technology forcing largely depends on whether the new standards are realistic and whether the industry can muster enough capacity for the research efforts. Technology forcing is particularly used in traffic-related industries such as car manufacturers.

For example, the Clean Air Acts in the United States since 1963 have been named as a successful technology forcing . In the Clean Air Act Extension of 1970 in particular, the reduction of certain car exhaust fumes by up to 90% by 1975/76 was specified. With the technical means of 1970 this obligation could not be met. However, the US automobile manufacturers were able to successfully develop a new technology with the vehicle catalytic converters that met the new standards.

The introduction of the airbag was less successful . Since 1969, the US Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which was founded in 1970 and is subordinate to the Department, has been trying to persuade automakers to develop airbags. Although cars with working airbags could be bought between 1974 and 1976, it took 20 years for them to be mass-produced in new cars. According to a 2007 study, the technological differences were not the reason for this delay, but differences in the type of political regulation.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Marc Weider: Technology Forcing - Transport Policy and Environmental Innovation , in: Oliver Schöller, Weert Canzler, Andreas Knie (eds.): Handbuch Verkehrsppolitik , Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2007, pp. 663–686, ISBN 978-3531145488
  2. ↑ David Gerard and Lester B. Lave: Implementing Technology-Forcing Policies: The 1970 Clean Air Act Amendments and the Introduction of Advanced Automotive Emissions Controls , 2003 (PDF)
  3. ↑ David Gerard and Lester Lave: Experiments in technology forcing: comparing the regulatory processes of US automobile safety and emissions regulations , in: Int. J. Technology, Policy and Management, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2007, pp. 1–14 (PDF)