View article

The organization of funding regimes is responsible for directing research and innovation, but certain types of questions produce certain types of answers. It is therefore important to be mindful of the implicit priorities of funding calls—especially given that the ability of researchers to advance particular ideas relates to their ability to secure resources such as research funding1. Even the perceived expectations of funders can directly shape research agendas2. In that vein, it is concerning that energyrelated funding calls—from the local, regional, national, to European level—are often dominated by techno-economic3 thinking. The techno-economic paradigm assumes that if technical knowledge and technologies are rigorously demonstrated, and if the market is left to operate (without failures), then individuals will make the rational consumption choices required to best prepare society for its future energyrelated …