Exploring Links Between Innovation and Diffusion: Adoption of NO<Subscript>X</Subscript> Control Technologies at US Coal-fired Power Plants

While many studies have looked at innovation and adoption of technologies separately, the two processes are linked. Advances (and expected advances) in a single technology should affect both its adoption rate and the adoption of alternative technologies. This paper combines plant-level data on US coal-fired electric power plants with patent data pertaining to NO_X pollution control techniques to study this link. As in other studies of environmental technologies, the effect of other explanatory variables is dominated by the effect of environmental regulations, demonstrating that the mere presence of environmental technologies is not enough to encourage its usage. Nonetheless, I do find that technological advances are important for the adoption of existing combustion modification technologies. However, these advances are less important for the adoption of newer post-combustion control techniques, which are adopted only when needed to comply with the strictest emission limits.     

Implementing technology roadmap process in the energy services sector: A case study of a government agency

Energy sector has become increasingly sensitive to emerging new technologies as our society is seeking alternative energy sources. Many utility companies and government agencies have started to implement technology planning processes for roadmapping their future technology portfolios. This paper focuses on technology planning in the government energy services sector. Through a case study research method, the paper documents how technology planning and specifically technology roadmaps were implemented at a federal agency tasked with managing power transmission in the Northwest United States. Three application areas are covered: transmission, renewables and energy efficiency. The paper provides details on the Energy Efficiency Roadmaps. Through the review of the case a technology planning methodology based on technology roadmaps is detailed. Key conclusions were reached on how to manage such process implementation in similar organizations. Some of these conclusions can be generalized to those that are implementing technology planning processes for the first time. We concluded that adoption of such methods would require a longer time than anticipated. Organizational changes to adopt the process will likely reduce the time it takes to deliver the required roadmaps. We also found that a typical sequence of events would be Technology Gap Analysis and Identification of Technology Candidates, Evaluation and Prioritization of Technologies, Roadmapping of Technologies and Allocation of Resources to the R&D Programs or to the direct acquisition of the technologies.     

On the interaction between imperfect compliance and technology adoption: taxes versus tradable emissions permits

This paper analyzes the effects of the interaction between technology adoption and incomplete enforcement on the extent of violations and the rate of abatement technology adoption. We focus on price-based and quantity-based emission regulations. First, we show that in contrast to uniform taxes, under tradable emissions permits (TEPs), the fall in permit price produced by technology adoption reduces the benefits of violating the environmental regulation at the margin and leads firms to modify their compliance behavior. Moreover, when TEPs are used, the deterrent effect of the monitoring effort is reinforced by the effect that technology adoption has on the extent of violations. Second, we show that the regulator may speed up the diffusion of new technologies by increasing the stringency of the enforcement strategy in the case of TEPs while in the case of uniform taxes, the rate of adoption does not depend on the enforcement parameters.     

Income Inequality and Technological Adoption

We relate technological adoption (of different technologies) with income inequality. In the process, we discover that some technologies, such as aviation, cell phones, electric production, internet, telephone, and TV, are skill-complementary in raising inequality. We construct standardized indexes of skill-complementary technological adoption for modern information and communication technologies (ICT), older ICT, production and transport technologies. We find strong evidence that older ICT and transport technologies (and less frequently modern ICT) tend to increase inequality. Additionally, we discover that results are much stronger in rich countries than in poor ones. Our results are quite robust to a series of changes in specifications, estimators, samples, and measurement of technology adoption. These results may bring insights into the design of incentive schemes for technology adoption.     

Energy Efficiency and Rebound Effects: An Econometric Analysis of Energy Demand in the Commercial Building Sector

It is widely recognized that the adoption of energy saving innovations can induce an increase in the usage of the corresponding technologies and thus can possibly increase energy consumption. Among other concerns is that uncertainties regarding the magnitude of this “rebound effect” can deter policy makers from promoting energy efficiency. This paper analyzes the rebound effects of the adoption of energy efficient technologies in commercial buildings. Based upon a structural model of technology adoption and subsequent energy demand at the building level, the empirical results are that energy efficiency can reduce electricity use by about 35 % and natural gas consumption by about 50 %.     

Intra-industry trade and business cycles in ASEAN

The innovation adoption literature has focused primarily on a producer's decision of whether and how much to adopt. An equally pertinent question is when to adopt, because in the case of new technologies it often ‘pays to wait’ for more information. We propose a double-limit hurdle model to analyse adoption intensity and inertia in the context of a divisible technology. The proposed framework incorporates probit or Tobit models as testable special cases. A maximum likelihood estimation framework is set out and generalized to account for heteroscedastic errors. The empirical analysis, which uses household-level data from India's semi-arid tropics, provides new insights into the factors influencing adoption inertia and intensity.     

Loan processing costs,information asymmetries and the speed of technology adoption

This paper presents a simple model in which credit-constrained firms might delay the adoption of new and more productive technologies because of the external financing costs involved. Applying for a loan can be a very costly process by itself. Where there is a high degree of credit rationing, these costs might even deter entrepreneurs from applying for a loan altogether. We argue that the efficiency of the banking system, by affecting such costs, can influence the profitability of new technologies and entrepreneur's investment decisions, which, in turn, influence new technology implementation, capital accumulation and growth.     

Vested interests, population ageing and technology adoption

Technologies that are used differ vastly across and within countries. It is commonly observed that technologies that would improve productivity are not adopted. This paper explains the failure to adopt new technologies through costs of adoption for people of different age. We set out an overlapping generations model with majority voting that predicts a relationship between the age composition of an economy and economic growth. We also consider the effects of more intense competition on technology adoption.     

Trade liberalization,democratization, and technology adoption

A general equilibrium theory with heterogeneous skills predicts a complementarity between trade and democracy in creating demand for superior technologies. Trade liberalization or democratization alone may lead to vested interests that limit technology adoption. We use panel data on technology adoption, at a disaggregated level, for the period 1980–2000. Exploiting within-country variation over time and the heterogeneous timing of trade liberalization and democratization, we document a significant and sizable positive interaction between trade openness and democratization for technology adoption. The result that transitions to open democracies are beneficial for technological dynamics is robust to a large set of checks.     

Can a Focus on Breakthrough Technologies Improve the Performance of International Environmental Agreements?

In a recent paper, Barrett (Am Econ Rev 96(2):22–25, 2006) reaches the conclusion that in general the answer to the question in the title is no, except for a special case in which technology adoption involves increasing returns (network externalities). We show in this paper that a focus on the R&D phase in the development of breakthrough technologies can also increase the possibilities for cooperation.     

开放式创新平台组织采纳关键因素研究

运用技术-组织-环境框架与IT匹配理论等创新采纳理论,探索了组织采纳基于互联网开放式创新平台的关键因素及影响机制,揭示了开放式创新平台在组织中的采纳与扩散。运用探索性单案例研究方法,分析了影响开放式创新平台组织采纳的关键因素。研究发现,开放式创新平台的技术特质（相对优势、开放性、协同创新性、网络外部性）、组织情境（组织战略、高层支持、创新文化、组织规模）、外部环境（政策支持、外部压力）等因素对组织采纳决策具有直接影响作用。另外,技术特质与组织因素的匹配以及技术特质与环境因素的匹配不仅对采纳决策具有直接影响作用,而且对技术特质、组织情境、外部环境与采纳决策间关系发挥中介作用。     

A model of the linked adoption of complementary technologies

This paper presents a dynamic feedback model of the technology diffusion process in which each firm's technology adoption decisions maximize the net present value of its anticipated cash flow, taking into account the direct cost savings, the number of linked firms expected to adopt complementary technologies, and anticipated changes in adoption costs. The adoption of complementary technologies need not be simultaneous, but linked technologies can induce a rapid industrial regime shift without explicit coordination or planning.     

TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION AND THE SKILL MIX OF US MANUFACTURING PLANTS

This paper examines the relationship between technology adoption and the skill mix of the workforce in US manufacturing plants. Using information on the use and adoption of seven different information technologies, we find that the relationship between technology adoption and workforce skill varies across the technologies. The use and adoption of engineering and design tasks are associated with workplaces that have a relatively large share of nonproduction labor. When we examine the relationship between technology adoption and skill upgrading of workforces, we find little correlation between the use and/or adoption of technologies and changes in workforce skill at the plant level. However, we do find that plants adopting technologies related to engineering and design tasks grow faster over the period 1987–1997.     

Factors Determining the Adoption of Energy-Saving Technologies in Swiss Firms: An Analysis Based on Micro Data

This study investigates the factors that determine firms’ decisions to adopt energysaving technologies. We distinguish between the decisions of whether or not to use a technology (“inter-firm diffusion”), and of how intensely to use a technology (“intra-firm diffusion”). The empirical model used accommodates several effects that have been postulated in the theoretical diffusion literature: firm and industry heterogeneity, strategic considerations and external effects. Data for 2,324 Swiss firms for the year 2008 is used, with separate information for four categories of energy-saving technology applications (electromechanical and electronic, motor vehicles and traffic engineering, construction, power-generating processes). The results reveal significant differences with respect to firm characteristics and adoption barriers between inter-firm and intrafirm diffusion. In practically all cases, positive net external effects of adoption can be found. Inducement effects, particularly those traced back to intrinsic motivations for environment-friendly technologies, show clearly positive effects on adoption behavior.     

Technology adoption and accumulation in a vintage-capital model

We present a model of capital accumulation and technology adoption in a vintage-capital framework. The model is an infinite-horizon/infinite-dimensional optimal control model: the firm employs a continuum of technologies (a continuum of heterogeneous capital goods). Capital goods are technology specific, their technology is related to vintage and technology progress. The entrepreneur maximizes the profits obtained by employing a continuum of technologies under the assumption of constant returns to scale and bearing adjustment costs for gross investments. The diffusion of a new technology is established by allowing the entrepreneur to invest in vintage capital goods.     

Policy choice for end-of-pipe abatement technology adoption under technological uncertainty

Regulators have increasingly become concerned about end-of-pipe abatement technologies because they not only play a crucial role in air pollution control but also ensure the achievement of the deep carbon emissions reduction target. This paper investigates the effect of emission taxes and standards on the adoption of end-of-pipe abatement technology when the arrival time and degree of improvement of the new emissions abatement technology are uncertain. We find that the ranking of emission taxes and standards in terms of motivating early adoption depends on the policy stringency. More specifically, for high levels of environmental stringency, standards induce an earlier technology adoption than taxes, while the opposite conclusion holds for low levels of environmental stringency. The sensitivity analysis shows that these findings are robust to various relevant crucial parameters. Finally, the implications for the choice of environmental policy have been provided.     

Employment polarization and the role of the apprenticeship system

This paper studies the effect of apprenticeship training on technology adoption and labor market polarization. A stylized model with two key features is developed: (1) apprentices are more productive due to industry-specific training, but (2) from the firm׳s perspective, when training apprentices, technological innovation is costly since training becomes obsolete. Thus, apprentices correlate with slower adoption of skill-replacing technologies, but also less employment polarization. We test this hypothesis on German regions given local variation in apprenticeship systems until 1976. The results show little computer adoption and no employment polarization related to apprentices, but similar displacement of non-apprentices by computers as in the US.     

Technology adoption and the impact on average productivity

In this paper, a framework is developed to analyze how the specifications of new technologies and the heterogeneity of micro-units of production affect the input use, the adoption pattern, and the productivity of inputs. It shows that asset-productivity-enhancing (APE) technologies tend to be adopted by micro-units with high-quality assets, while variable-input, efficiency-enhancing (VIEE) technologies tend to be adopted by micro-units with low-quality assets. In both cases, the variable input productivity increases, but the average productivity of the fixed asset may decline in the case of the VIEE technology. The distribution of asset quality and the new technology specifications will therefore determine the impacts of production technology innovations on aggregate behavior and consequently the change in average productivity of the fixed asset.     

Organisational change and the productivity effects of green technology adoption

This study investigates induced productivity effects of firms introducing new environmental technologies. The literature on within-firm organisational change and productivity suggests that firms can achieve higher productivity gains from adopting new technologies if they adapt their organisational structures. Such complementarity effects may be of particular importance for the adoption of greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement technologies. The adoption of these technologies is often induced by public authorities to limit the social costs of climate change, whereas the private returns are much less obvious. This study finds empirical support for complementarity between green technology adoption (either CO₂-reducing or resources and energy efficiency-enhancing technologies) and organisational change. While the sole adoption of green technologies is associated with lower productivity, the simultaneous implementation of green technologies and organisational innovations is not.     

Does the Energy-Efficiency Paradox Exist? Technological Progress and Uncertainty

We explain why firms may choose not to undertake investments inenergy-saving technologies that appear profitable from a net presentvalue perspective. As future technological advances are inherentlyuncertain and investments in new technology are, at least partly,irreversible, it may ``pay' to postpone investments in energy savingand wait for the arrival of improved varieties. This insight casts doubton the existence of so-called ``low hanging fruits in energy saving'(although we do not wish to deny that organisational failures may alsobe important). Failure to appreciate the underlying stochasticity oftechnological progress may obscure the insight that there is value inwaiting, and costs involved in terminating the option to invest. Theappetite for low-hanging fruits will be less when these costs areincorporated in the analysis. We demonstrate that the effect of thearrival rate of new technologies on the adoption lag for a rational firmis ambiguous. The same holds for the effect of the expected ``jump' inefficiency of new technologies. Government policies aimed at enhancingthe adoption of new technologies through stimulation of R&D maytherefore be counterproductive.