friction of changing capital requirements and risk
across stages of the innovation pathway.
Ensuring strong links between different agents
and investors eases the transfer of projects
between stages and potentially generates benefits
from technology clustering and spillovers. Better
links between agents help mitigate issues of
information asymmetry between investors and
make it easier for an innovation to be passed to a
more suitable party as it progresses along the
pathway. Strong links between agents can also
encourage collaboration across sectors, leading
to spillovers where a technology is used for a role
it was not originally intended for. Both clustering
and spillovers have the potential to increase the
avenues of use for an innovation, leading to
larger impacts from the technology and increased
incentives for innovation. A way in which this
can be done is by designating institutions to set
standards and collect research to encourage
knowledge-sharing and collaboration between
agents. Reliability is a vital factor for new technologies. Establishing non-profit institutions to
develop standards would be a prudent step to
avoid similar losses of confidence.
The contrast between the Danish and German
experience with wind turbine research and
deployment shows the importance of holistic
support and the impact of non-monetary interventions. The Riso National Laboratory for
Sustainable Energy in Denmark was tasked with
developing a certification process for wind turbines and with providing large-scale turbine
testing facilities and performing R&D activities.
Riso’s role allowed it to coordinate interactions
between agents in industry, policy and research
and to provide technical assistance to manufacturers when required. Denmark also provided
strong market support policies, encouraging the
adoption of wind power by a wide range of
agents. Germany had a heavy R&D focus in the
1980s and a lack of proper consideration for
reliability and other measures of support for the
initial deployment phase of wind power. Finally,
Denmark’s adoption and use of wind power has
far outpaced Germany’s, despite a far smaller
R&D spend (Table 10).
3 Major Factors Influencing Global
Energy Technology Development
and Their Trends
History shows that there are many factors that can
influence energy technology development. Some
are constant throughout time, such as striving to
raise the quality of life. Others are specific to a
certain period, such as the discovery of new geological resources, awareness of the need to protect
the environment, the spreading influence of other
technologies, and accidental events.
3.1 Major Factors Influencing Global
Energy Technology
Development
The major factors that influence energy technology development in our time are:
(1) Deep integration of digital and intelligent
technologies in the energy sector
The global financial crisis undoubtedly brought
tremendous shocks to the international economy.
As World Bank data indicates, global GDP in
2009 reported negative growth for the first time
since the1960s.
5 From a positive perspective,
however, people realised that the development
and wide deployment of digital and intelligent
technologies are very likely to generate
game-changing impacts on production and living.
In recent years, new concepts identifying a
new industrial revolution have emerged. The
most important include:
First, Industry 4.0. This concept explains that
human society has passed through three industrial revolutions, characterised by the steam
engine, electricity, and electronics and information technology (IT) respectively. The world is
now entering the fourth industrial revolution,
5
This impact remains. As the World Bank data indicates,
from 2009 to 2015, global GDP grew from $63.12 trillion
to $75.24 trillion (calculated in 2010 $), up 2.97%
annually. In comparison, from 2002–08, global GDP
grew from $51.95 trillion to $64.22 trillion, up 3.6%
annually.
Special Report 3: A Study of China’s Technology Revolution
303
across stages of the innovation pathway.
Ensuring strong links between different agents
and investors eases the transfer of projects
between stages and potentially generates benefits
from technology clustering and spillovers. Better
links between agents help mitigate issues of
information asymmetry between investors and
make it easier for an innovation to be passed to a
more suitable party as it progresses along the
pathway. Strong links between agents can also
encourage collaboration across sectors, leading
to spillovers where a technology is used for a role
it was not originally intended for. Both clustering
and spillovers have the potential to increase the
avenues of use for an innovation, leading to
larger impacts from the technology and increased
incentives for innovation. A way in which this
can be done is by designating institutions to set
standards and collect research to encourage
knowledge-sharing and collaboration between
agents. Reliability is a vital factor for new technologies. Establishing non-profit institutions to
develop standards would be a prudent step to
avoid similar losses of confidence.
The contrast between the Danish and German
experience with wind turbine research and
deployment shows the importance of holistic
support and the impact of non-monetary interventions. The Riso National Laboratory for
Sustainable Energy in Denmark was tasked with
developing a certification process for wind turbines and with providing large-scale turbine
testing facilities and performing R&D activities.
Riso’s role allowed it to coordinate interactions
between agents in industry, policy and research
and to provide technical assistance to manufacturers when required. Denmark also provided
strong market support policies, encouraging the
adoption of wind power by a wide range of
agents. Germany had a heavy R&D focus in the
1980s and a lack of proper consideration for
reliability and other measures of support for the
initial deployment phase of wind power. Finally,
Denmark’s adoption and use of wind power has
far outpaced Germany’s, despite a far smaller
R&D spend (Table 10).
3 Major Factors Influencing Global
Energy Technology Development
and Their Trends
History shows that there are many factors that can
influence energy technology development. Some
are constant throughout time, such as striving to
raise the quality of life. Others are specific to a
certain period, such as the discovery of new geological resources, awareness of the need to protect
the environment, the spreading influence of other
technologies, and accidental events.
3.1 Major Factors Influencing Global
Energy Technology
Development
The major factors that influence energy technology development in our time are:
(1) Deep integration of digital and intelligent
technologies in the energy sector
The global financial crisis undoubtedly brought
tremendous shocks to the international economy.
As World Bank data indicates, global GDP in
2009 reported negative growth for the first time
since the1960s.
5 From a positive perspective,
however, people realised that the development
and wide deployment of digital and intelligent
technologies are very likely to generate
game-changing impacts on production and living.
In recent years, new concepts identifying a
new industrial revolution have emerged. The
most important include:
First, Industry 4.0. This concept explains that
human society has passed through three industrial revolutions, characterised by the steam
engine, electricity, and electronics and information technology (IT) respectively. The world is
now entering the fourth industrial revolution,
5
This impact remains. As the World Bank data indicates,
from 2009 to 2015, global GDP grew from $63.12 trillion
to $75.24 trillion (calculated in 2010 $), up 2.97%
annually. In comparison, from 2002–08, global GDP
grew from $51.95 trillion to $64.22 trillion, up 3.6%
annually.
Special Report 3: A Study of China’s Technology Revolution
303