In an ever changing world, technological innovation allows us to adapt, survive and thrive. Innovation can impact us adversely as well – the steam engine brought the industrial revolution and with it economic growth and prosperity as well as environmental pollution and inequality. In order to reap innovation’s full benefits, we should try and understand how it works.
The energy sector is an exemplary case study in the attempts to better understand innovation for several key reasons. It is the backbone of the economy and under major pressure because of pollution concerns, it is resistant to change because of large investments and huge interdependencies, and there is an amazing variety of technologies that keep the system running.
A common understanding of technological innovation in such a system includes a pervasive idea of niche markets. The question for this article: do niche markets really matter?
See full Article: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/2014/02/11/guest-post-energy-innovation-do-niche-markets-really-matter/
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