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Short abstract

This paper introduces funnel plurality: how coexisting funnels channel support for a single technology. In plasma chemistry, common sustainability funnels overshadow technology-specific visions, limiting futuring options and reinforcing development-as-usual rather than radically alternative futures.

Long abstract

New technologies need wide-range attention and financial support. Typically, this is achieved through ‘funnelling’, a rhetorical device (e.g. in articles or grant applications) conceptualised in the 80’s to guide the support from broad interests to specific technological projects, that also legitimises technology development. For instance, hopes of sustainability are funnelled to renewable energy, and then solar panels. Some technologies, however, appear in multiple, co-existent funnels. In this paper, the under-researched phenomenon of funnel plurality is further developed by distinguishing its key characteristics and detailing what it implies for the dynamics of support. I draw on a case study of plasma chemistry, a form of basic chemical production that has gained increased interest for its promises of sustainability. This case was studied through interviews and a systematic literature review. Analysis shows that plasma is predominantly championed through fixed (i.e. continuously reproduced) funnels, such as sustainability, because it is a case of circularity and electrification (i.e. becoming fossil-free). These funnels are institutionalised through policies from EU to local level and also used for all competing technologies. Sometimes, technology-specific funnels are used as well. For instance, decentralised production with minimised transport distances, and the ability to turn it on and off easily, depending on (renewable) energy availability. These latter promises are not only technology-specific, they also unveil elements of more radically different futures. I argue that the availability of fixed funnels hinders the use of unfixed, technology-specific funnels and their absence hinders collective futuring for more radically alternative futures and thus stimulates ‘development-as-usual’.