A policy dimension required for technology roadmapping: Learning from the emergence of Chinese wind turbine industry

Innovation policies play an important role throughout the development process of emerging industries in China. Existing policy and industry studies view the emergence process as a black-box, and fail to understand the impacts of policy to the process along which it varies. This paper aims to develop a multi-dimensional roadmapping tool to better analyse the dynamics between policy and industrial growth for new industries in China. Through reviewing the emergence process of Chinese wind turbine industry, this paper elaborates how policy and other factors influence the emergence of this industry along this path. Further, this paper generalises some Chinese specifics for the policy-industry dynamics. As a practical output, this study proposes a roadmapping framework that generalises some patterns of policy-industry interactions for the emergence process of new industries in China. This paper will be of interest to policy makers, strategists, investors and industrial experts. Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The roles of energy and material efficiency in meeting steel industry CO2 targets.

Identifying strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from steel production requires a comprehensive model of the sector but previous work has either failed to consider the whole supply chain or considered only a subset of possible abatement options. In this work, a global mass flow analysis is combined with process emissions intensities to allow forecasts of future steel sector emissions under all abatement options. Scenario analysis shows that global capacity for primary steel production is already near to a peak and that if sectoral emissions are to be reduced by 50% by 2050, the last required blast furnace will be built by 2020. Emissions reduction targets cannot be met by energy and emissions efficiency alone, but deploying material efficiency provides sufficient extra abatement potential.

The impact of government policy on technology transfer: An aircraft industry case study

This case study explores the interaction between domestic and foreign governmental policy on technology transfer with the goal of exploring the long-term impacts of technology transfer. Specifically, the impact of successive licensing of fighter aircraft manufacturing and design to Japan in the development of Japan's aircraft industry is reviewed. Results indicate Japan has built a domestic aircraft industry through sequential learning with foreign technology transfers from the United States, and design and production on domestic fighter aircraft. This process was facilitated by governmental policies in both Japan and the United States. Published by Elsevier B.V.

A systematic approach for improving the quality of official statistics: Case of Korean information and telecommunication industry

With the rapid growth of information and communication technology (ICT) in Korea, there was a need to improve the quality of official ICT statistics. In order to do this, various factors had to be considered, such as the quality of surveying, processing, and output as well as the reputation of the statistical agency. We used PLS estimation to determine how these factors might influence customer satisfaction. Furthermore, through a comparison of associated satisfaction indices, we provided feedback to the responsible statistics agency. It appears that our model can be used as a tool for improving the quality of official ICT statistics. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Exploring industry dynamics and interactions

Within strategic technology management and innovation, often stakeholders extrapolate past industry dynamics, trends and patterns into the future. One frequently used concept is that of 'lifecycles' - an analogy of a sequence of stages encountered by living organisms. Lifecycle terms - such as technology, product, industry - are frequently used interchangeably and without clear definition. Within the interdisciplinary context of technology management and forecasting, this juxtaposition of dynamics can create confusion rather than simplification. This paper explores some of the dynamics typically associated with technology-based industries, illustrated with data from the early US automotive industry. A wide range of dimensions are seen to have potential to influence the path of industry development, and technology roadmapping architecture is used to present a simplified visualisation of some of these. Stakeholders need to consider the units of analysis, causality and synchronicity of relevant different dynamics, rather than isolated lifecycles. Some graphical curves represent simple aggregation of components; other dynamics have significant impact, but incur time lags, rather than being superimposed. To optimise alignment of the important dimensions within any technology development, and for future strategy decisions, understanding these interactions is critical. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.

Rationales of holonic manufacturing systems in leather industry

This paper presents an insight into leather manufacturing processes, depicting peculiarities and challenges faced by leather industry. An analysis of this industry reveals the need for a new approach to optimize the productivity of leather processing operations, ensure consistent quality of leather, mitigate the adverse health effects in tannery workers exposed to chemicals and comply with environmental regulation. Holonic manufacturing systems (HMS) paradigm represent a bottom-up distributed approach that provides stability, adaptability, efficient use of resources and a plug and operate functionality to the manufacturing system. A vision of how HMS might operate in a tannery is illustrated presenting the rationales behind its application in this industry. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.

PCBs and OCPs in human milk and selected foods from Luqiao and Pingqiao in Zhejiang, China

This study was conducted to measure the levels of 23 PCB congeners and 6 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in human milk and three food types collected from Luqiao and Pingqiao in Zhejiang Province, China. An effort was also made to explore the potential health risk for the mothers and breast-fed infants living in these two localities. Luqiao was selected as the sampling site because it is the largest place for the disassembly of obsolete transformers and electrical waste in China. Pingqiao, located 100 kin NW of Luqiao, is not known to be a place for any electronic or electrical waste and hence was chosen as the control site. Both localities are important agricultural places in the province. The organochlorines were measured in the samples using the GC-PECD technique. Micro-EROD bioassay method was also used as a complement of the chemical analysis to estimate the TEQ levels of dioxin-like PCBs in human milk. The data showed that the human milk, rice, hen egg, and fish samples from Luqiao were more heavily contaminated with PCBs than those from Pingqiao, suggesting that the mothers and their breast-fed infants in Luqiao tended to receive greater exposure to PCBs than those living in Pingqiao. The OCP levels in the two localities were found comparable, suggesting that the major source of contamination with these pesticides was from their agricultural uses. Significant correlation (R-2 = 0.87, P < 0.001) of PCB TEQs was found between the bioassay and chemical analysis method, suggesting that micro-EROD is an effective method for comprehensive determination of TEQ levels in human milk. Comparison with literature data showed that the PCB levels in milk samples from Luqiao were significantly higher than those from localities in other Chinese provinces and comparable to those in developed or industrialized countries. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.