Introduction of New Process Technology into the Wastewater Treatment Sector

Abstract

Innovative wastewater treatment technologies are developed to respond to changing regulatory requirements, increase efficiency, and enhance sustainability or to reduce capital or operating costs.Drawing from experience of five successful new process introductions from both the inventor/developer's and adopter's viewpoints coupled with the application of marketing analysis tools (an S curve), the phases of new technology market penetration can be identified along with the influence of market drivers, marketing, patents and early adopters. The analysis is used to identify measures that have increased the capture of benefits from new technology introduction. These have included funding by the government for research and demonstrations, transparency of information, and the provision of independent technology evaluations.To reduce the barriers and speed the introduction of new technology, and thereby harvest the full benefits from it, our industry must develop mechanisms for sharing risks and any consequences of failure more broadly than just amongst the early adopters. WEF and WERF will continue to have the central role in providing reliable information networks and independent technology evaluations.

Dynamics of water innovation : Insights into the rate of adoption, diffusion and success of emerging water technologies globally

“…The company Paques offers the technology to treat biogas from anaerobic digestion, while a licensee, the company Paquell, offers the technology in oil and gas applications. It has been noted by other researchers, notably Parker (Parker, 2011), that having a competitor is a common factor associated with successful new technology introductions. Our research and analysis uphold this finding.…”

“…The existence of competition appears to be a key factor associated with successful technology introduction, particularly in the regulated municipal utility market. It has been noted by other researchers, notably Parker (Parker, 2011), that having a competitor is a common factor associated with successful new technology introductions. Our research and analysis uphold this finding, and found that in the case of technologies, which reached higher levels of market impact, including MBBR, MBR, UV and UF, there were at least two strong competitors working to introduce the technology during the Early Adopters Stage.…”

“…There is relatively little academic work that relates specifically to the analysis of innovation in water technologies. A key foundational reference paper addressing this gap is Introduction of New Process Technology into the Wastewater Treatment Sector by Denny Parker (Parker, 2011).…”

“…This can be seen in Figure 1, which shows the conceptualization of technology adoption by Rogers (2003). These two curves focus not on the state (maturity) of the technology but, rather, on the characteristics of the people adopting the technology (Parker, 2011). Rogers found that the adopter groups identified in TALC statistically fitted a bell-shaped curve representing a normal distribution.…”

“…Another author, Parker, had previously emphasized that sharing information was a key factor for increased rate of adoption in water technology market (Parker, 2011).…”