Material development and the adaptability of the industrial structure

Abstract

With the rapid development of new materials in recent decades, material adaptability has increasingly come into the focus of innovation theory. This article shows that material adaptability has involved special problems for enterprises. This is not least because a shift in material technology constitutes a more fundamental intervention in industrial production than other kinds of technological change. On the basis of Danish examples, this article discusses material adaptation processes in industry and barriers to such adaptation. The article attempts to answer two questions. What is the significance of various development strategies for the adaptability of companies to new materials? And what lessons can be learned from previous adaptation processes, against the particular background of the introduction of plastic materials in industrial production? The article discusses the role of materials as stabilizing and destabilizing factors in the industrial structure, and in this connection the importance of “learning by doing,” “user-producer relations” and the role of raw material suppliers in the process of adaptation to new materials.