Market Readiness Research Articles

Textile NFC antenna for power and data transmission across clothes

In this article, it is shown how a smartphone can be used together with an e-textile structure, such as smart clothing, or any other smart home textile structure, smart composite, etc, to power it and to send and receive data generated by the e-textile by using the magnetic induction phenomenon through textile materials. This has been achieved using the NFC communication protocol and NFC compatible fully textile antennas without any electronic components such as resistors, inductors or capacitors. Our NFC antennas have been realized by embroidery and geometrical shapes using conductive threads. All the antennas realized have been tested to show their capacity to send the power and to send and receive data from sensors, in particular by testing their resonant frequencies, which are 13.7 MHz and 13.83 MHz, and their quality factor, which are 45 and 55, respectively. The approach used in this work facilitates the design and production of smart textiles and their reliability and washability, as they do not need any more to be equipped with power supplies such as batteries and data acquisition and interface cards, that are not laundering and cleaning friendly and are very difficult to be realized on flexible structures making them textile compatible. Therefore, we believe that in the future, a smartphone placed in specific locations in our clothing (pockets) equipped with our antennas will help the development and the market readiness of future generations of smart textile structures. The realized prototypes will enable to create a sensor network by acting as a current extension transmitting power and data.

Drugging the undruggable: A market readiness analysis for KRAS-G12C.

e15667 Background: KRAS G12C is a distinctively aggressive, poor survival, tumor genotype conferring resistance to anti-EGFR therapies in lung, colorectal (CRC) and pancreatic cancers. Prospective therapies targeting G12C have demonstrated promising activity in Phase I trials. In the advent of potentially transformative novel inhibitor therapies, we assess the need for earlier and repeated tumor profiling between treatments to accurately guide further therapeutics and assess market readiness for specified testing. Methods: Treatment-naïve patients and cell-lines were assessed for genomic change by consensus molecular classification in CRC pre/post treatment with standard chemotherapy. Assessing mutation occurrence, prevalence and testing rates, we aimed to identify areas of translational potential for testing within common cancers. A laboratory and prescriber mapping of the US across lung, CRC and pancreatic cancer types, was carried out using Diaceutics’ proprietary Global Diagnostics Index (GDI), a real-world data diagnostic database, to determine market readiness for companion diagnostic (CDx) and follow-on testing in the dawn of transformative therapies. Potential barriers to test adoption were explored including reimbursement analysis. Results: Genomic analysis shows CRC tumors change after treatment with first-line therapies rendering the primary tumor profile result less reliable. This highlights a distinct need for repeated testing post-treatment for continued efficacy in therapeutics. Patients with pancreatic cancer would benefit the most from increased testing for G12C particularly earlier testing as KRAS mutants occur before neoplastic transformation. Although the market appears ready, reimbursement for KRAS G12C remains a challenge for pancreatic cancer compared to either lung or CRC. Conclusions: This study provides genomic evidence of the necessity for more frequent tumor testing post-treatment with chemotherapy, and earlier testing in pancreatic cancer to enhance efficacy of targeted therapies. The market is ready for increased testing volumes, yet problems surrounding reimbursement and stage of testing remain. Earlier testing may increase survival and decrease cost of patient care, suggesting more frequent testing is imperative across cancer types.

USO Imprinting and Market Entry Timing: Exploring the Influence of University Ecosystems

University spin-offs (USOs) have attracted increasing attention due to being an important source of innovation, university income, and job creation. To support their creation and growth, universities have developed university ecosystems of diverse actors. However, existing research has found mixed results on the effectiveness of these support mechanisms. In particular, there is a lack of research illustrating the impact premarket support mechanisms can have on premarket USO development and their strategic outcomes such as timing of the USOs’ first market entry. The findings identify that both the university environment and ecosystem actors leave lasting positive and negative imprints upon USO founders. USO founders who had positive engagement with university ecosystem actors and perceived their university environment as supportive, developed entrepreneurial skills, and market knowledge earlier in the USO formation process. This resulted in greater market readiness and, consequently, contributed to an early first market entry. Conversely, USO founders who perceived barriers within their university environment and had negative experiences with ecosystem stakeholders developed more cautious and risk-averse behavior, contributing to a late market entry. This article contributes new knowledge into the antecedents of USO market entry timing through the novel lens of imprinting.

Evaluating policy success of emissions trading schemes in emerging economies: comparing the experiences of Korea and Kazakhstan

ABSTRACTEmissions trading schemes have been increasing in popularity as a market-based instrument to meet CO2 reduction commitments. In this paper, we examine the emission trading schemes (ETS) of Kazakhstan and Korea, two emerging economies. We do so by using a policy success typology, which includes programme, process, political, temporal, distributional and capacity dimensions, and operationalizing criteria that the Partnership for Market Readiness and International Carbon Action Partnership have identified as key to effective ETS scheme design. We find that these criteria, or ETS success dimensions, align well with a typology of policy success. Using indicators developed to evaluate each ETS success dimension, we identify the positive and negative attributes of both Kazakhstan’s and Korea’s ETS and provide a qualitative ranking for each ETS success dimension. This evaluation and ranking allows us to identify necessary conditions for policy success in emerging market ETS: consultation with stakeholders in both the design and implementation stages; development of human and institutional home-grown capacity; mechanisms to solve illiquidity issues using market interventions; development of legitimacy from the perspective of business over time; implementation of policies that are complementary to an ETS; and flexibility to enable firms to manage periods of low revenues. Our findings provide important lessons for emerging economies planning to implement their own ETS, which may be more relevant than experiences from developed nations’ ETS.Key policy insightsETS success requires more than political will and reaching programme goals.Identifying and involving key business and public stakeholders is necessary for ETS success.Capacity building within the public and private sectors should be implemented from the design stage of an ETS.In emerging economies, where increases in energy prices could lead to social unrest, complementary policies are necessary to ensure cost pass-through.Liquidity problems likely be experienced during the initial stages of an ETS need to be addressed.

Financial Innovation for Energy Innovation

The move to catalyze a global energy transition is underpinned by the collective need to limit the most severe impacts from climate change as well as fostering more sustainable economic growth. Floating photovoltaic power stations on Chinese lakes, integrated carbon capture technology on large-scale power plants in Canada, and decentralized urban wind turbines on Singaporean rooftops, are just a few examples of how the global energy transition is being fueled by radical innovation in the clean energy technology landscape (WEF 2017, Natural Resources Canada 2013, Karthikeya et. al. 2016). Bringing cutting-edge technology from the lab to the global energy market requires a supportive ecosystem: innovation must be matched by enabling technological development, market readiness to adopt disruptive technologies, local capacities to scale up new energy projects, energy policies with climate objectives, as well as sufficient and “aligned” investment capital. This article focuses specifically on the latter requirement; the characteristics of investment capital needed to support clean energy innovation. Investors are key players in the future of energy, as they must drive innovation in the financial system in order to meet the scale of capital needed to transform the energy industry. Important technological leaps in sustainable energy have been hindered by a lack of or a misalignment of investment capital (WEF 2018, Bloomberg Finance New Energy Finance 2010, Monk et al. 2015). One evident example is the severe financing shortage in commercializing novel sustainable energy technologies. This so-called “valley of death” between early-stage cleantech and full-sized deployment is the result of many causes, but a common thread among them is increasing financial risks in the energy industry, as well as opacity within the energy ecosystem (In and Monk 2018). We approach this funding shortage and widening valley of death in the energy sector from a newer perspective. We investigate underlying structural and organizational barriers in today’s capital markets, and discuss how to innovate the financial industry. Our discussion attempts to move the focus of current energy finance and investment research from a deal-by-deal perspective to a continuous process that involves asset owners, asset managers and entrepreneurs. This shift in perspective is important because “investors are often presented with a ‘deal’ rather than a historical understanding of a company, while entrepreneurs themselves are often faced with countless types of investors, from pensions and sovereigns to tax-equity providers” (In and Monk 2018, page 26). In our view, long-termism has been continuously undervalued as a key success factor, despite its strong potential to align various players in the ecosystem. Instead, asset owners and managers are often forced to rely on short-term and costly financial products and services to fund the long-term global project of energy transformation. The financial innovations described in this article thus focus on how to foster long-termism and catalyze patient and smart long-term investment capital to support energy innovation, by innovating governance, management and operations of investors via new collaboration and cooperation among asset owners and managers.

Dynamics in Implementation of Public Private Partnerships

Governments all over the world play a crucial role in the development of infrastructure and the provision of basic services to the citizens. With increasing population, urbanization, other developmental needs, the governments' ability to address public needs through traditional means is severely constrained. Due to this, new approaches and forms are being sought after and one such is through contractual agreements with the private sector commonly referred to as a public-private partnership (PPP). A PPP is a contractual agreement involving the private sector in the delivery of public services. PPP formations are effected by government support, economic uncertainties, market readiness, and organizational factors. Adopting a mixed methods approach, the primary data was collected through questionnaires, interviews, and secondary data from published reports and documents the objective was to explore the dynamics in the implementation of PPP agreements with focus on Namibia and enhance the knowledge to enable the government and private entities in dealing well with these factors.

Automation, electrification, and shared mobility in urban freight: opportunities and challenges

Automation, electrification, and shared mobility are 3 the Revolutions (3Rs) in the passenger transport sector that have resulted in efficiency improvements, cost reductions, and low carbon emissions. Although there is interest about their implementation in freight transportation, the development of multiple 3Rs initiatives in freight represent a challenge for academics and practitioners, especially to anticipate potential obstacles in last mile operations. Consequently, this paper discusses the challenges and opportunities for the introduction of the 3Rs in the last mile. Specifically, the paper provides an overview of different technologies, at different levels of market readiness, and explores their benefits and/or unintended consequences. The main contribution of this exploratory research is informing the current state of the 3Rs and providing insights to develop policies, plans or initiatives that promote these revolutions in the urban freight system.

Effect of Water and Chemical Stresses on the Silver Coated Polyamide Yarns

E-textiles; new emerging hybrid systems and devices require novel standards regarding their reliability and durability in order to gain the attraction and satisfaction for the customers and market readiness. Launderability of e-textiles is one of the key problems for their reliability and maintenance. Standards should fulfill the requirements for both: the textile and electronic parts of e-textile products. In this article, an analysis of water and detergent influence on the conductive yarns which are generally used as a connection in e-textile products is investigated. During the washing process various stresses (mechanical, temperature, chemical, etc.) damage the connection elements such as electrically yarns that make all together a textile circuit board (textile motherboard). All those stresses are moreover interdependent. Water or chemical stresses are supposed to be strongly damaging and should be discussed in details. During the washing procedure it is important to understand the water and detergent effects on the conductive yarns. Therefore, experimental studies are conducted by dipping conductive yarns in those solutions and by extended characterization. Structural changes of yarns are tested by FTIR-ATR, and peaks before and after dipping in the solutions were noted. Results point out the level of damage on the yarn surface caused by chemical stresses due to dipping in solutions. Furthermore, yarn surfaces were analyzed with optical microscopy. Remaining solutions after removing the dipped yarn were also analyzed by UV-Visible Spectroscopy to check any possible removal of silver coating from the yarn into solution, due to water or water detergent solutions. UV-Visible Spectroscopy validated our results obtained by FTIR-ATR peaks. By these experiments, time duration e-textiles can withstand in liquid solution without any loss of conductivity can be evaluated and predicted.

Readiness of Magnetic Nanobiosensors for Point-of-Care Commercialization

Nanobiosensors contribute to point-of-care (POC) efforts to make routine biodiagnostics more accessible to patients with respect to both expense and convenience. However, devices whose operation is based on magnetic phenomena appear delayed in their progress toward POC commercialization despite their promise of better sensitivity, as compared to devices based on optical, mechanical, or electrochemical phenomena. This review aims to elucidate the technical challenges preventing magnetic nanobiosensors from reaching market readiness. The following types of magnetic nanobiosensor operation are reviewed: giant magnetic impedance (GMI), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), anisotropic magnetoresistance, giant magnetoresistance (GMR), resonant coil, Hall effect, and microcantilever. In particular, a careful comparison of each type in terms of their advantages, disadvantages, recently overcome challenges, and sensitivities will be presented. For example, a disadvantage of GMI sensors, and certain others reviewed here, is the fact that ferromagnetic materials used in their construction directly impact the biosensing event since magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) labels are involved in the strategy. Other challenges associated with use of MNP labels will be addressed. Furthermore, some of the more interesting state-of-the-art magnetic nanobiosensor efforts will be discussed in order to provide an overview of target analytes and sample media under consideration. This review identifies GMR sensors as poised to dominate the market owing to their good sensitivity and ease of use. On the other hand, SQUID sensors, at their current stage of development, are revealed as unsuitable for POC applications due to their high operational cost and unwieldy instrumentation. Magnetics experts endeavoring to progress the field toward commercialization will find this review indispensable.

Defect and Contact Passivation for Perovskite Solar Cells.

Metal-halide perovskites are rapidly emerging as an important class of photovoltaic absorbers that may enable high-performance solar cells at affordable cost. Thanks to the appealing optoelectronic properties of these materials, tremendous progress has been reported in the last few years in terms of power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), now with record values in excess of 24%. Nevertheless, the crystalline lattice of perovskites often includes defects, such as interstitials, vacancies, and impurities; at the grain boundaries and surfaces, dangling bonds can also be present, which all contribute to nonradiative recombination of photo-carriers. On device level, such recombination undesirably inflates the open-circuit voltage deficit, acting thus as a significant roadblock toward the theoretical efficiency limit of 30%. Herein, the focus is on the origin of the various voltage-limiting mechanisms in PSCs, and possible mitigation strategies are discussed. Contact passivation schemes and the effect of such methods on the reduction of hysteresis are described. Furthermore, several strategies that demonstrate how passivating contacts can increase the stability of PSCs are elucidated. Finally, the remaining key challenges in contact design are prioritized and an outlook on how passivating contacts will contribute to further the progress toward market readiness of high-efficiency PSCs is presented.

Paths to Effective CO2 Utilization: A Roadmap for Several Options

CO2 utilization (CO2U) is a hotly debated option for improving carbon dioxide management. Proponents have anointed it as a future money-making option to pay for carbon capture, while opponents have denounced it as smoke and mirrors without potential to achieve real carbon reductions. Rather than evaluate current options per se, we evaluated the research agenda that would be useful in improving CO2U options to the point that they are, in fact, useful for actual carbon reduction. We chose to evaluate two important but very different pathways: Concrete and carbonate materials: This case looks at CO2U pathways with large market potential and helpful thermodynamics (little energy is needed to make these products). The market value of the products is relatively low. Given technical and market readiness, this represents an opportunity for near-term deployment (3-10 years). Commodity chemicals: This case looks at CO2U pathways with modest markets and CO2 volumes. In some cases, the technology is fairly mature; less so in others. In most cases, substantial energy inputs are required. However, the value of some of these intermediates is quite high. These chemicals are anticipated as feedstocks for long-lived products (e.g. polymers). Given technical and market readiness, this represents an opportunity for near- to medium-term deployment (5-20 years). We conclude that while the case for the benefits of CO2U is far from complete, nations and industries that are interested in pursuing the issue have a common set of activities that will improve the odds of success.

The innovation profile of nanotechnology team projects of face-to-face and online learners

Innovation is an important practice required for 21st century engineers. Courses in emerging engineering fields encourage students to work on projects in small teams. Research has demonstrated several factors under which teamwork conducted face-to-face settings might enhance student innovation. It is, however, still unclear whether a similar effect is evident among teams of engineering students working in online environments. This study aims to characterize and examine the innovation of nanotechnology team projects by comparing three research groups: face-to-face university students, online university students, and online world learners. Applying a mixed-methods approach, the study included interviews with nanotechnology experts and an analysis of students' team projects. Content analysis identified four categories of team project innovation: Product necessity, STEM interdisciplinary, Market readiness, and Innovation type. The findings indicated that compared to the online learners, the face-to-face university students generated projects with a higher innovation profile.

China’s national carbon emissions trading scheme: lessons from the pilot emission trading schemes, academic literature, and known policy details

ABSTRACTUpon completion, China’s national emissions trading scheme (C-ETS) will be the largest carbon market in the world. Recent research has evaluated China’s seven pilot ETSs launched from 2013 on, and academic literature on design aspects of the C-ETS abounds. Yet little is known about the specific details of the upcoming C-ETS. This article combines currently understood details of China’s national carbon market with lessons learned in the pilot schemes as well as from the academic literature. Our review follows the taxonomy of Emissions Trading in Practice: A Handbook on Design and Implementation (Partnership for Market Readiness & International Carbon Action Partnership. (2016). Retrieved from www.worldbank.org): The 10 categories are: scope, cap, distribution of allowances, use of offsets, temporal flexibility, price predictability, compliance and oversight, stakeholder engagement and capacity building, linking, implementation and improvements.Key policy insightsAccurate emissions data is paramount for both design and implementation, and its availability dictates the scope of the C-ETS.The stakeholder consultative process is critical for effective design, and China is able to build on its extensive experience through the pilot ETSs.Current policies and positions on intensity targets and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) credits constrain the market design of the C-ETS.Most critical is the nature of the cap. The currently discussed rate-based cap with ex post adjustment is risky. Instead, an absolute, mass-based emissions cap coupled with the conditional use of permits would allow China to maintain flexibility in the carbon market while ensuring a limit on CO2 emissions.

The role of e-government in sustainable public procurement in developing countries: A systematic literature review

Despite their relatively lower national income, studies suggest that developing countries have consistently advanced their e-government structures. However, there is little knowledge on how governments’ deployment of electronic and internet technologies may be leveraged to stimulate sustainable supply chain management, particularly Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) practices. From a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), this paper affirms such allusions by scholars and reports that government deployment of electronic and internet tools indeed promotes SPP towards the bigger agenda of sustainable development (SDG 12.7). In this paper, 68 articles of heterogeneous research methods published in peer-review journals since 2001–2017 are systematically reviewed. This paper concludes that efforts in building a robust ICT infrastructure, online portals, and human capacity to use ICT offer developing countries inter alia an informative platform for sharing and communicating SPP requirements. E-government also facilitates a wider sample for market readiness assessment and an integrated e-procurement system towards effective SPP monitoring and evaluation. This study has significant implications for promoting sustainability in the downstream supply chain practices in public sector organizations in the developing country context.

Market readiness of smart textile structures - reliability and washability

Even if smart textiles gained a certain level of maturity, they are not yet ready for the market at large scale. The main issues explaining this are related to problems of reliability and difficulties to launder smart textile structures. Smart textiles are also facing problems for launching in market due to lack of standardizations. This paper is focused on washability standards of smart textiles. The objective is to co relate available textile mechanical tests with the washing of smart textiles and to observe the change in their performances. First, different washing functions and washing factors acting in laundering machines are analysed and discussed. Then Martindale abrasion tests and pilling box tests were performed in order to detect damages similar to those provoked by washing process. Two different types of silver coated conductive threads sewn on cotton plain woven fabric are used. Changes in threads resistance during these tests are analysed and correlated with modifications of electrical conductivity after washing of the similar samples. Therefore, the mechanical stresses underwent by conductive threads during washing cycle have been identified and reproduced by standardized testing equipment. More generally, this paper emphasizes all the problems, encompassing efforts that industry and research labs have to realize to make smart textile structures more robust and able to be cleaned or washed similarly to everyday textile products such as underwear, clothing, home textiles and even technical textiles. It gives indications on how the issues related to reliability and washability of smart textile structures have to be addressed in order to make them reliable and robust enough to be put on the market.

Market-driven management of start-ups: The case of wearable technology

The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the drivers of lean approaches and successful management of wearable technology start-ups. The paper is a descriptive study that employed a case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews with ten start-ups’ managers in Wearable Technology 2017 conference. Participants were selected based on convenience sampling and the pre-set criteria. The current study contributes to this field through the main findings, which suggest that four stages need to be considered by starts-up for a successful market readiness, including the time of entry and overcoming market entry barriers, product attributes, product development process, and commercialization. Finally, findings were categorized in the form of an iterative learning loop model and also, practical strategies and methods were recommended for successfully going through each stage.

Timing is everything: A technology transition framework for regulatory and market readiness levels

Meeting technology-based policy goals without sufficient lead time may present several technology, regulatory and market-based challenges due to the speed of technological adoption in existing and emerging markets. Installing incremental amounts of technologies, e.g., cleaner fossil, renewable or transformative energy technologies throughout the coming decades, may prove to be a more attainable goal than a radical and immediate change the year before a policy goal is set to be in place. This notion of steady installation growth over acute installations of technology to meet policy goals is the core topic of discussion for this research. This research operationalizes this notion by developing the theoretical underpinnings of regulatory and market acceptance delays by building upon the common Technology Readiness Level (TRL) framework and offers two new additions to the research community. The Regulatory Readiness Level (RRL) and Market Readiness Level (MRL) frameworks were developed. These components, collectively called the Technology, Regulatory and Market (TRM) readiness level framework allow one to build new constraints into existing Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs). A system dynamics model was developed to illustrate the TRM framework. The framework helps identify the factors, and specifically the rate at which we must support technology development, necessary to meet our desired technical and policy goals in the coming decades.

Assessing Readiness Levels of Production Technologies for Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture

The modern agricultural production is facing the problem of a growing society connected with the growing asking for food as well as different environmental threats. To solve this issue, agricultural production should be more sustainable and efficient which can be reached by using new technologies. In the paper the most important technologies, which were evaluated by different research methods to find how and when they could be used for a sustainable intensification of agriculture were highlighted by applying technology and market readiness models. By asking professionals from different fields of agriculture in practice as well as academia it was found that technologies that collect or utilize advanced data (sensors, drones) used for knowledge based management are more applicable for use, contrary to nanotechnologies where the costs of development and applications limits the readiness.
 JEL Classification: Q16

Probing the E-Commerce market readiness of Bangladesh

This research is solely aimed at finding the consumer perspective on the existing e-commerce market of Bangladesh and thereby judge the market readiness to meet the consumer demand. Bangladesh being a developing country needs many infrastructures to develop to build a full proof environment for the E-commerce firms. But still, the organizations involved are trying to engage more and more consumers day by day. Though the extensive use of internet has already opened new windows for the online transaction of economic goods and also there are many improvisations required in several aspects of the industry. The purpose of online shopping is to divert people from traditional market to online market. If the organizations developed in online shopping are more engaged in consumer gaining and retention through extensive provisions of service then and only then the flower of e-commerce will bloom with the fragrance of billions. E-commerce sites of Bangladesh have a great future but if and only if we together can provide the industry the favorite tools for meeting the consumer demands given the government develops business-friendly rules for the e-commerce sites.

Framing inclusive innovation within the discourse of development: Insights from case studies in India

The concept of ‘inclusive innovation’ for development has become increasingly prominent in both academic and policy discourses, raising important questions as to how this is being framed. Results from case studies conducted in India suggest inclusive innovation to be interpretively flexible and contested. One case presents a grassroots framing emphasising social and political empowerment, rooted in community self-sufficiency, autonomy and traditional belief systems. In contrast, the other cases co-opt the language of inclusion to present a predominantly market-based framing, heavily emphasising market readiness and participation. This framing is transforming rural social practices (including the organisation of space and time, the meaning of production and the role of women), introducing the potential for market dependency.