R&amp;D Drivers and Obstacles to Innovation in the Energy Industry

Costa‐Campi, María Teresa; Duch‐Brown, Néstor; García‐Quevedo, José

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2340588

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The results also confirm previous evidence indicating that financial obstacles are not a major barrier to innovation in the energy industry (Salies, 2010;Costa-Campi, 2014) in contrast to empirical evidence that stresses the financial obstacles that firms face in conducting innovation activities (Hall, 2002;Popp and Newell, 2012;Blanchard et al, 2013).…”

Section: Estimation and Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Innovation Strategies of Energy Firms

2016

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Within the IEB framework, the Chair of Energy Sustainability promotes research into the production, supply and use of the energy needed to maintain social welfare and development, placing special emphasis on economic, environmental and social aspects. There are three main research areas of interest within the program: energy sustainability, competition and consumers, and energy firms. The energy sustainability research area covers topics as energy efficiency, CO2 capture and storage, R+D in energy, green certificate markets, smart grids and meters, green energy and biofuels. The competition and consumers area is oriented to research on wholesale markets, retail markets, regulation, competition and consumers. The research area on energy firms is devoted to the analysis of business strategies, social and corporative responsibility, and industrial organization. Disseminating research outputs to a broad audience is an important objective of the program, whose results must be relevant both at national and international level.The Chair of Energy Sustainability of the University of Barcelona-IEB is funded by the following enterprises ACS, CEPSA, CLH, Enagas, Endesa, FCC Energia, HC Energia, Gas Natural Fenosa, and Repsol) through FUNSEAM (Foundation for Energy and Environmental Sustainability). The IEB working papers represent ongoing research that is circulated to encourage discussion and has not undergone a peer review process. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IEB. IEB Working Paper 2016/28 INNOVATION STRATEGIES OF ENERGY FIRMS *Maria Teresa Costa-Campi, Néstor Duch-Brown, José García-Quevedo ABSTRACT: Investment by energy firms in innovation can have substantial economic and environmental impacts and benefits. Internal R&D is the main input and driver of the innovation process, but innovation involves other activities, including capital purchases and other current expenditures. While the R&D activities of energy firms have been analysed, few studies have examined the typology of their innovation activities. Here, we analyse the impact of the main characteristics of the sector's firms on their decisions to invest in each of three types of innovation activity: namely internal R&D; external R&D; and, the acquisition of advanced machinery, equipment or software. In conducting this analysis, we take the potential persistence of innovation activities into account. We also examine the role that different innovation objectives have on firms' investment decisions. Given that engagement in a specific type of innovation may result from decisions that are not taken independently of each other, we analyse whether there is any complementarity between the three innovation activities. In carrying out the empirical analysis, we draw on data for private energy firms included in the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for Spanish firms for the period 2004-2013. We use panel triprobit models to examine potential complementarity.JEL Codes: L94, Q40, O32

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Section: Estimation and Resultssupporting

confidence: 86%

Innovation Strategies of Energy Firms

2016

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“…More recently, some empirical analyses have examined the R&D determinants and the obstacles to innovation after liberalisation (Salies, 2010;Sterlacchini, 2012;Sanyal and Ghosh, 2013;Costa-Campi et al, 2014). In addition, public policies and institutional framework characteristics have received considerable attention in the analysis of the energy innovation system (see, among others, Gallagher et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introduction: Challenges For Randd and Innovation In Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recent analyses (Costa-Campi et al, 2014) have included the study of other barriers related to access to knowledge and the market structure. Their results coincide in that financial barriers are not a determinant in explaining R&D investments, but on the other hand market domination by established firms has a significant negative influence on innovation in the sector.…”

Section: Introduction: Challenges For Randd and Innovation In Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges for R&D and innovation in energy

2015

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In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the role of R&D and innovation in energy efficiency and dealing with climate change. To improve our knowledge of these matters a workshop was organised in Barcelona, Spain, in January 2014. This introduction to the special issue first presents some insights from the literature on challenges for R&D and innovation in energy. The second section summarises the articles from this workshop that make up this special issue and that provide new insights into innovation in energy. All the articles include energy policy recommendations based on the empirical analyses carried out.

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“…One of them relates to the effect of firm size, as large fixed costs acts as a barrier for firms' investment in energy R&D [10][11][12]. Another finding is that it is the access to knowledge and the market structure (such as the degree of existing monopoly), rather than the cost and financing of R&D, that explain firms' energy R&D choices better [13][14][15][16][17]. This finding resonates with one of the discussions of the national innovative capacity explained below.…”

Section: Existing Explanationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy R&D towards Sustainability: A Panel Analysis of Government Budget for Energy R&D in OECD Countries (1974–2012)

Sun

Kim

2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:Energy transition is one of the greatest challenges for sustainability. However, the overall composition of the world energy supply has not changed much since the late 1970s, with fossil fuels providing 81% of the world's total primary energy supply. While political leaders increasingly call for proactive policies to innovate the energy sector in the face of climate change, governments around the world commit vastly different levels of budgets to energy R&D. This research examines the potential determinants of cross-national variations in government budget allocations for energy R&D with three perspectives. With the panel data analysis of OECD countries , we check the supply-side, demand-side, and institutional factors inducing government investment in R&D for energy in general as well as for renewable energy. Among the multitude of factors tested in our analysis, gross domestic R&D expenditure, refinery output, and the rightist orientation of the governing party show significantly positive influences on government R&D budgets for energy in general. However, refinery output shows the negative effect on government R&D budget for renewables. This contrasting finding about the impact of refinery output on government investment in energy R&D in general vs. renewable energy R&D suggests that policymakers and scholars need to better appreciate the complex roles of the oil sector in driving public R&D investment in energy. It also calls for more proactive renewable energy policy to make progress towards sustainable energy transition.

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R&D Drivers and Obstacles to Innovation in the Energy Industry

Cited by 9 publications

References 34 publications

Innovation Strategies of Energy Firms

Innovation Strategies of Energy Firms

Challenges for R&D and innovation in energy

Energy R&D towards Sustainability: A Panel Analysis of Government Budget for Energy R&D in OECD Countries (1974–2012)

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