Miguel Valdez

Miguel Valdez began his career as a software engineer, went on to become a technology journalist, and is currently working as a Lecturer in Technology Management and Innovation in the school of Engineering and Innovation at the Open University.

Research interests
Miguel's doctoral research applied the Strategic Niche Management framework to study sustainable transport pilots in Milton Keynes, with a particular focus on the sensemaking activities that took place in organizations considering the adoption of electric vehicles under the Plugged-in Places programme. He further developed this understanding of cities as experimental spaces within the transport work package of MK:Smart, a £16 million smart city programme.

Through his research, Miguel has developed an interest in the ways in which different actors make sense of innovative technologies and develop competing narratives about the future of their city. His research has drawn insights from urban geography and innovation studies to interrogate how the experimental spaces in cities may facilitate the development of new knowledges about sustainable innovation, and on how such knowledges coalesce and travel. This research has been based on the qualitative study of policy and trade literature and on interviews and participant observation involving citizens, lead users, industrial actors and policymakers in local and national government.