Economic Dynamics of Fuel Cell Technologies (2003)

Due to their environmental and efficiency characteristics fuel cells are promising technological solutions for many energy related applications (stationary power generation, vehicle propulsion, portable equipment). This book describes the economic dynamics of fuel cells by analyzing their diffusion perspectives as well as the strategic and organisational arrangements designed to promote their development. The costs, risks and economic stakes of fuel cell technologies require both a sustained involvement from public entities and the setting up of innovation networks with a large variety of heterogeneous actors. This context corresponds to a new space for technological competition located at the intersection between firms, networks and national/regional systems of innovation. The book presents a comprehensive analysis of this cooperation/competition phenomenon through different theoretical and empirical investigations.