How long does innovation and commercialisation in the energy sectors take? Historical case studies of the timescale from invention to widespread commercialisation in energy supply and end use technology

Gross, Robert and Hanna, Richard and Gambhir, Ajay and Heptonstall, Philip and Speirs, Jamie (2018) How long does innovation and commercialisation in the energy sectors take? Historical case studies of the timescale from invention to widespread commercialisation in energy supply and end use technology. Energy Policy, 123. pp. 682-699. ISSN 1873-6777 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.061)

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Abstract

Recent climate change initiatives, such as ‘Mission Innovation’ launched alongside the Paris Agreement in 2015, urge redoubled research into innovative low carbon technologies. However, climate change is an urgent problem – emissions reductions must take place rapidly throughout the coming decades. This raises an important question: how long might it take for individual technologies to emerge from research, find market opportunities and make a tangible impact on emissions reductions? Here, we consider historical evidence for the time a range of energy supply and energy end-use technologies have taken to emerge from invention, diffuse into the market and reach widespread deployment. We find considerable variation, from 20 to almost 70 years. Our findings suggest that the time needed for new technologies to achieve widespread deployment should not be overlooked, and that innovation policy should focus on accelerating the deployment of existing technologies as well as research into new ones.

ORCID iDs

Gross, Robert, Hanna, Richard, Gambhir, Ajay, Heptonstall, Philip and Speirs, Jamie ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6729-9831;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:87787
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    1 December 2018
    Published
    10 October 2018
    Published Online
    27 August 2018
    Accepted
    8 March 2018
    Submitted
    Notes:© 2018 The Authors Robert Gross, Richard Hanna, Ajay Gambhir, Philip Heptonstall, Jamie Speirs, How long does innovation and commercialisation in the energy sectors take? Historical case studies of the timescale from invention to widespread commercialisation in energy supply and end use technology, Energy Policy, Volume 123, 2018, Pages 682-699, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.08.061
    Subjects:Technology
    Social Sciences
    Department:
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:11 Jan 2024 13:43
    Last modified:11 Nov 2024 14:11
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/87787
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