SBE-RCUK: Co-location of manufacturing and innovation: drivers and impacts of technological innovation along the wind energy global value chain

许多高科技行业，包括清洁技术行业，在过去二十年中经历了重大的地理转移，公司将其零部件供应链的制造业扩大或转移到新的国家。这些制造业的转变提出了对政策、经济竞争力和研究都很重要的问题。具体而言，是什么原因促使企业改变或重新调整其地理战略和地理位置，以及这样做是否会改变这些企业进行创新的性质和方向。该项目通过全球风力技术行业的案例来研究这些问题，其中风力涡轮机的需求和制造都已从美国和欧洲转移到包括中国在内的新兴经济体。制造地点从技术前沿国家向新兴市场的转移可能会影响风力部门的研发战略、技术创新和竞争优势。考虑到新兴国家和发展中国家风力发电部署的政策目标，预计不同风力涡轮机部件的制造将进一步扩展到新的国家，这意味着了解与制造转移相关的可能权衡非常重要。这项研究为政策的设计提供了信息，这些政策促进了全球分布的现代制造业中的本地制造业，经济竞争力和技术发展。它还强调了制造业转移如何影响技术创新长期应对气候和环境挑战的能力，从而支持国家和国际政策的设计。该项目分析了已经发生地理转移的制造业类型，最重要的是，这些制造业的国际转移是否以及如何影响风电行业的创新方向。该研究的重点是零部件制造商，他们通常是向原始设备制造商（OEM）供应的中小型企业（或SME），即，全球10-15家风力涡轮机制造商。中小企业对一个国家的经济特别重要，因为它们占雇主公司的90%以上，例如在美国。制造业中小企业必须进行创新，以越来越低的成本生产产品，并/或发展新的能力，以保持竞争力。该项目依赖于公司层面的风电供应链新数据和全面的混合方法，包括对OEM供应商关系、公共政策、组件技术、半结构化访谈和专利的全球数据分析。在理解包括中小企业和大型原始设备制造商在内的全球风能价值链中的创新方面，该项目的结果有助于理解是什么促使不同类型的公司决定在本国或国际上进行制造，以及制造地点是否影响特定行业中创新的技术重点和研发活动的时间范围&。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Many high-technology industries, including clean technology industries, have seen major geographical shifts over the past two decades in which companies expand or move manufacturing of their component supply chain to new countries. These manufacturing shifts raise questions that are important for policy, economic competitiveness, and research. Specifically, what are the reasons for firms to alter or refocus their geographic strategies and physical locations, and whether doing so changes the nature and direction of innovation that such firms undertake. This project examines these questions through the case of the global wind technology industry, where both the demand for and manufacturing of wind turbines have shifted from the United States and Europe to emerging economies, including China. The shifts in the location of manufacturing from countries at the frontier of technology to newer markets can potentially shape R&D strategies, technological innovation, and competitive advantage in the wind sector. Given policy targets for wind deployment in emerging and developing countries, additional expansion of the manufacturing of different wind turbine components to new countries is expected, which means it is important to understand the possible tradeoffs associated with the manufacturing shifts. This research informs the design of policies that spur local manufacturing, economic competitiveness, and technology development in globally-distributed, modern manufacturing industries. It also highlights the ways in which manufacturing shifts affect the ability of technological innovation to meet climate and environmental challenges in the long term, thus supporting design of national and international policies. This project analyzes the types of manufacturing that have shifted geographically and, most crucially, whether and how these international shifts in manufacturing impact the direction of innovation in the wind industry. The research focuses on component manufacturers who are often small and medium enterprises (or SMEs) that supply to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), i.e., the 10-15 manufacturers that assemble wind turbines worldwide. SMEs are particularly relevant for a country's economy as they comprise, for example in the United States, over ninety percent of employer firms. Manufacturing SMEs must innovate to produce goods at increasingly lower costs and/or to develop new capabilities to stay competitive. The project relies on novel data of the wind supply chain at the firm level and a comprehensive mixed-methods approach, including the analysis of global data on OEM-supplier relationships, public policies, component technologies, semi-structured interviews, and patents. In understanding innovation in the global value chain for wind energy that includes both SMEs and larger OEMs, the results of the project contribute to the understanding of what drives decisions by different types of firms to manufacture in their home country or internationally, and whether the location of manufacturing influences the technological focus of innovation and the time-horizon of R&D activities undertaken in a particular industry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.