Select a country of your choice and compare and contrast two technologies and explain how
they might be harnesses to address a sustainable development issue of your choice
(Cork Wood or Rammed Earth as new technologies In Sustainable building material the UK )
– Pick tow companies in the uk that produce this material
– You can apply the Pavitt taxonomy/ typology analysis to identify the company stages by looking at the readings attached and the slides from Pavitt taxonomy
– You can do the policy Technology analysis by looking at the readings attached and the slides from the economies of technology policy
For the essay: select a country of your choice and compare and contrast two technologies (which you are free to select) and explain how they might be harnessed to address an energy policy/sustainable development issue of your choice. Your essay should explore the specific patterns of innovation of the technologies you choose and how pathways of technical change might be influenced by policy. As appropriate, take into account the level of economic development and how it might influence the national system of innovation.
For example, you could draw on the lectures and seminars at the start of the module to articulate patterns of innovation, you could draw on lectures and seminars during the middle of the module to articulate policy problems and their potential solutions, and use material from towards the end of the course to address national characteristics, as appropriate.
The essay is due in Week 8, but in Week 1 you will start learning important concepts and theories for achieving this final outcome of the module. It is therefore important that you start thinking about your essay early so that you can reflect on the case as you are learning.
The required length of the essay is 2,500 words in total. A maximum of 10 per cent above or below the word limit is allowed. The executive summary, list of references, figures/diagrams, and table of contents do not count in the word limit.
The report shall be structured in the following way:
1. Executive summary (approx. 250 words, not included in the word count): here you summarise the main argument of the essay, and introduce the two technologies, policy problem and national setting that you have adopted.
2. Introduction (approx. 500 words): here you provide some general background for the country of your choice and explain the chosen energy policy/sustainable development issue that you are addressing in the essay.
3. Main body (approx. 1,200 words): here you explore the specific patterns of innovation of the technologies you have chosen and compare and contrast them to illustrate how they differ. You should also identify key policy issues and how they might best be addressed so as to effectively influence patterns of innovation. You should only draw on frameworks from the course for the main analysis, but feel free to include contextual information from your own reading.
4. Discussion and Conclusion (approx. 800 words): in your final section you should reflect back on the strengths and weaknesses of policy implications you have drawn, the frameworks that you have used, and how they relate to your central argument.
5. References (not included in the word limit): here you list all the sources you have cited throughout your text. You must provide references in Harvard referencing format. For this, the use of a reference management software (such as Mendeley, Endnote or Citavi) is strongly recommended. Be sure to only include references for those documents you have cited in the text.
1. How do I score high marks?
The key thing to understand is that you are being marked for showing what you have learned on the module. You do not get marks for other things as we are assessing your learning here. As a result, a badly written essay that shows you have some understanding of the module material will score higher than a brilliantly written essay that doesn’t use the module material.
The point of the essay is not to answer the question – but to show the marker that you have understood the module material.
2. How do I apply the Pavitt typology?
If you go to the videos of the live sessions they should help you.
You can just position your technologies in categories, but you can get additional marks for showing that you can use the typology.
To do this, simply run through the key questions – who is the customer, what do they want price or performance, or both? is it a service? is innovation process or product and then where does the technology come from, and then look for risks or scale in production and list complementary assets that let you capture value….
3. There is a to select from and only a limited number of words, how do I choose?
One of the things we are looking for is you showing your ability to select appropriate frameworks. A useful approach might be to narrow down the different weeks material by considering if its applicable to your question and interests – you might not have to worry about trade, or environmental impacts, or policy, or climate change, or science, etc depending on your topic. Then go through your notes with the material that does match and consider which frameworks are most useful (you also get marks for showing that well chosen frameworks aren’t perfect in your particular setting if that is the case), and draw on the ones you find most useful. If you want, and have space, you might want to mention why you didn’t select others as this will show that you understand material.
You are not expected to use all the frameworks, but it doesn’t hurt to show the marker that you have understanding of others that you don’t use in depth.
4. I’m looking at an infrastructure technology or a platform technology?
Infrastructure technologies are interesting and EP students get additional reading material on energy systems. If you are looking at infrastructure you may wish to draw on that. Key things include operations and production being different – operations are scale intensive, and production is project based and in the final Pavitt category. There are some readings on projects in the energy policy student’s optional reading – the one by Hobday on complex products, and you might find the one by Thomas Hughes useful. If you use Hughes think about how it links to Chandler. Lastly, infrastructures have lots of market failures and tend to heavily regulated as a result. You might want to consider that.
Platform technologies are things like apps, or software intensive control systems that help co-ordinate activity – drones for monitoring land, apps for linking customers to suppliers. The Chandler reading might be useful here – but in the 21st century we are replacing his managers with technology to co-ordinate flows of materials and generate scale and scope economies. If you have time, then you might find the attached paper
5. Should I draw on material from outside the reading lists and module material?
This can be done and is probably useful to add context, but you are being assessed on what you have learned on this module, so the vast majority of marks will be on material from the module not on material from elsewhere. Feel free to add in material to add context and make your argument, but don’t displace module material that will earn you the marks.
The key thing to remember is that you are being marked on what you have learned during the module, so we are giving marks for using the frameworks and material from the essential readings and module material rather than for using material from outside the reading lists. We cannot stress this enough – a bad essay that uses frameworks and ideas from the module will score higher marks than an excellent essay that uses material from outside the module.
What frameworks need to be included?
First, when we talk about ‘frameworks’ in the assignment brief, we refer to frameworks such as the Pavitt Taxonomy, National Systems of Innovation, Economies of Scale and Scope and key concepts like diffusion, complementary assets, etc. Frameworks, ideas, concepts etc. are very flexibly defined by the people marking the essay, so they would include ideas from essential readings etc. For example, Kline and Rosenberg highlighting that innovation is inherently uncertain, or Teece noting that Chandler focuses on co-ordination in order to generate economies of scale. If you are using material from the readings and online material, we will give you marks if you use it well.
We do not expect you to use all the concepts, only the relevant ones for your assignment. It is a good idea to use more ‘frameworks’ from across the module to show that you have understood and studied the module’s key concepts. Some you can just mention, and others you can apply in your particular setting. The deeper you go the more marks the marker can give you. You should also look at the marking rubric to get a sense of how you get very high marks by reflecting back and suggesting where frameworks and ideas can be improved or where they do and do not fit well.
What is a pathway of technical change?
A key idea from the module is that innovation is path dependent and where you can go in the future depends on where you have been in the past. This connection creates pathways. Boeing is more likely to build another plane than find a new drug because it has accumulated expertise in particular technologies. Another idea is the notion that there are trajectories of change – for example, you can have science intensive or design intensive patterns of change that accumulate in different ways, and you can have trajectories of change that reflect economic and social influences – such as scaling up in steel production or scaling down in the production of computer chips.
A pathway of technical change is different ways forward of how technical change can occur. These pathways are not determined by science and will be influenced by social choices, and importantly by policy and institutions (e.g. national systems of innovation) and the market. The concept of “pathways for sustainability” is particularly important when we are talking about sustainability and energy policy. This concept has been fundamental at the STEPS Centre, which was a joint venture between SPRU and the Institute of Development Studies (ODS). You can find a video exploring the concept here (Links to an external site.), and you can find here a paper where the concept of “pathway” is used here (Links to an external site.).
How should the assignment be structured?
As this is an early module for many people who have had limited essay writing experience, we are very flexible on this. Moreover, we only provide a small number of marks for writing a well-structured essay as we do not want to bias marking against people who have not written an essay in years. In future modules, they will spend more time looking at structure. However, you can use this module to practice essay writing.
We provided you with two examples of the second assignment. One of them has a clear structure (subheadings), and the other one does not.
If you are worried about this, we suggest you have a clear structure so you can make sure you stick to the words counts and you have clearly developed sections. As mentioned in the assignment brief, you should have the following headings: Executive summary (approx. 250 words, not included in the word count), Introduction (approx. 500 words), Main body (approx. 1,200 words), Discussion and Conclusion (approx. 800 words) References (not included in the word limit). You can decide to have subheadings, too. For example, you may want to have a subheading for discussion and another for the conclusion.
To stress again – we are very flexible about the structure, and there are only a very limited number of marks for writing the essay. The vast majority of the marks come from content and drawing on material from the module. It is worth editing the essay and making sure it is easy to read, but your time will likely be much better spent going through and making links to the module material. A badly structured, poorly written essay that draws on more material from the readings etc. is likely to score higher than a well-structured, well-written essay where the author spends time polishing how it looks rather than making sure the argument flows and draws on module material.
Are in-text citations included in the word count?
Yes, in-text citations are included in the word count. There is a flex on the word count of plus or minus 10%, so this isn’t something to worry about. Your time would be better spent making sure you include well-chosen frameworks and concepts from the module material.
Can I show information in tables, and is this included in the word count?
Yes, you can include tables. Information in tables is included in the word count. But as noted above, there is a flex on the word count of plus or minus 10%. Given the way we mark – focused on the use of material from the module – it is probably not worth worrying about whether it is in the text on in a table. You will get marks for it either way.
We don’t really advise adding in additional sections or an appendix. We need to be fair in how we mark and won’t give extra marks for things that should be in the main text. Part of what we are looking for is evidence that you can make good judgements about what to include and what to leave out. If you include huge amounts in extra sections, it would be unfair to other students who didn’t use these sections if they were sources of lots of marks. We would strongly advise you spend your time integrating the material into the main body of the essay. If you want to include an appendix, you can, but you should only include these sections when necessary and do not assume that this section is self-explanatory.
Can I include images?
Yes, you can include images, but they should be labelled and referred to in the text, and if they are not your own images, then please cite them correctly. Images are often time-consuming, and they are often not sources of additional marks. You might find that time spent integrating more concepts and frameworks within the main text and showing how they relate to one another is a much better use of your time.
Can I write an essay without drawing on material from the essential readings, other readings, or online material?
We strongly advise you not to do this. You can, and each year people do, but the marks for the essay are for using ideas, frameworks, and concepts from the module and applying them in a new setting. So, it is almost certain that you will not pass.
When marking, what are the markers looking for?
We mark to the marking rubric based on your use of material from the module and are looking for evidence that you have learnt from the module. As a rough rule of thumb – probably 90% of the marks will be for applying frameworks, concepts, and ideas from the module’s material to your setting, and 10% will be for everything else – such as structure, beautiful writing, being easy to read, images, citations, background material on the setting from outside the module etc. For almost all the essays, most of that 10% will be captured by very simple things like having paragraphs, a title, and a bibliography. With a little bit of work – running a grammar and spell check, for example – you might pick up another 1-2%. After that getting an extra 1% becomes very hard. On the other hand, spending that time reading the essay and thinking about how to link to other material in the module is much more likely to generate additional marks. The marking rubric provides us with guidance about how we award marks and is worth a read.
