Abstract
Despite the key role of actor networks in progressing new sustainable technologies, there is a shortage of conceptualknowledge on how policy can help strengthen collaborative practices in such networks. The objective ofthis paper is to analyze the roles of such policies – so-called network management – throughout the entiretechnological development processes. The analysis draws on the public management and sustainability transitionsliteratures, and discusses how various network characteristics could affect the development of sustainabletechnologies, including how different categories of network management strategies could be deployed to influenceactor collaborations. The paper's main contribution is an analytical framework that addresses thechanging roles of network management at the interface between various phases of the technological developmentprocess, illustrated with the empirical case of advanced biorefinery technology development in Sweden.Furthermore, the analysis also addresses some challenges that policy makers are likely to encounter whenpursuing network management strategies, and identifies a number of negative consequences of ignoring suchinstruments in the innovation policy mix. The latter include inefficient actor role-taking, the emergence of small,ineffective and competing actor networks in similar technological fields, and a shortage of interpretativeknowledge.
