Wirth, Steffen | Germany | IFZ | Interdisziplinäres Forschungszentrum für Technik, Arbeit und Kultur

Steffen Wirth studied at the University of Lueneburg (Germany), where he got both his degree in Environmental Sciences and his MBA in Sustainability Management. After having graduated, Steffen had worked as research associate for the car sharing organization in Freiburg and at the Institute of Forestry Economics, University of Freiburg (Germany). Between 2007 and 2013, he had been a research assistant and PhD student in the Environmental Social Sciences department of Eawag, a Swiss Federal Institute. Since summer 2013, Steffen has been working as a researcher in the department "Ecological Product Policy" at IFZ. Moreover, he received his PhD in 2014 from the Klagenfurt University. The objective of his PhD in science and technology studies was to improve the understanding of the role of institutions and institutional structures in the development of new technologies (using the example of agricultural biogas technology) and to conceptually strengthen institutional analysis in innovation system studies.

Project at IAS-STS: Transition to a more sustainable mode of operation in urban transportation: studying institutionalized mobility profiles

Selected Publications

Markard, J., Wirth, S. and Truffer, B., 2016. Institutional dynamics and technology legitimacy – A framework and a case study on biogas technology. Research Policy 45, 330-344. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2015.10.009

Wirth, S., 2014. Communities matter: Institutional preconditions for community renewable energy. Energy Policy 70, 236-246. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2014.03.021

Wirth, S., Markard, J., Truffer, B. and Rohracher, H., 2013. Informal institutions matter: Professional culture and the development of biogas technology. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 8, 20-41. doi:10.1016/j.eist.2013.06.002

Wirth, S., Markard, J., 2011. Context matters: How existing sectors and competing technologies affect the prospects of the Swiss Bio-SNG innovation system. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 78, 635–649. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2011.01.001

Wirth, S., Markard, J., 2009. Challenges for innovation policy at the interface of national and sectoral institutions: Case study evidence for energy technologies in Switzerland. Conference paper, EMAEE, May 21-23, Jena.