Innovation And Market Entry In The Energy Industry: Lessons For Fuel Cells And New Technologies

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Regulatory, environmental, and market changes are spurring new technological development in the energy industry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Fuel cells are the largest new entrant to the energy industry, and this technology faces enormous challenges in entering the transportation and power generation markets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Potential barriers include slow market acceptance, the resistance of incumbent energy firms, the lack of hydrogen infrastructure systems, and significant design and engineering obstacles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This paper compares challenges faced by the fuel cell industry to those faced by several previous breakthrough energy technologies – including incandescent light bulbs, fluorescent light bulbs, and combustion turbines – all of which faced comparable market entry challenges before ultimately succeeding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Results of this study and historical comparison show how other energy companies and industries overcame similar and daunting barriers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Lessons from these earlier success stories include the need for critical enablers such as using niche markets to sustain R&D, building new infrastructure systems or conforming to existing ones, and benefiting from favorable public policies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></p>