Government policies play an important role in technology commercialization and can have both positive and negative effects on this process. The research under consideration Technology commercialization in road infrastructure: How government affects the variation and appropriability of technology by Caerteling, Halman and Doree was published in The Journal of Product Innovation Management in 2008.
The investigation explores various roles the government can play in technology commercialization and their combined effects upon the realization of technology projects.
The business research under consideration can be defined as basic or fundamental research which results are not meant for direct application in practice. The purpose of this investigation is to develop a conceptual model analyzing the combined effects of the government’s impact on the processes of technology commercialization in road infrastructure, including the government’s functions of a regulator, sponsor, first user and buyer.
The purpose of this business research is to fill the existing gap in theoretical knowledge without specifying the ways for the immediate practical application of the research results. Previous studies focused on the effects of specific government’s roles, and the current study is aimed at enhancing the understanding of the combined impact.
The major business problems under investigation include the inconsistencies between the roles of government as a regulator of the market and the largest user of technologies and the importance of preventing the emergence of monopolies in the sphere of road infrastructure.
On the one hand, the government controls and owns the road infrastructure, and the changes in the sphere require its participation. On the other hand, the government does not develop any technologies and is dependent upon the firms which work on the innovations in the sphere.
Thus, government’s championship in the sphere limits the viability of new firms and technologies but its participation is important for regulating the situation in this sector. Caerteling, Halman and Doree (2008) noted that “government has to create a market for new technology, and technology commercialization is subjected to competitive bidding” (p.146). At the same time, the emphasis should be put upon support of new technologies, increasing the capacity use and creating opportunities for the traffic flow control.
The data collection methods which were used for the research include the literature review of the discussion of the government’s specific roles in road infrastructure and a multiple case study of the combined effects of the government on technology commercialization. These methods were helpful for building a bridge between the existing theories of the government’s roles and their practical application on the examples of particular technology projects.
The requirements for the choice of the projects included the distinction between technology and construction projects and the application for at least partial funding of the project by the government for demonstrating the links between the government and the private firms working on the technology projects. The data for a multiple case study was retrieved from several sources, including the interviews with project team members and the government officials.
The results of the research clarify the complexity of the government’s role in technology commercialization of road infrastructure or other partially public goods. The proposed conceptual model can be valuable for both policymakers who develop strategies for technology commercialization and firms developing product and trying to overcome the impediments of cooperating with government as a buyer. The research explores the interdependency between the technology and other types of policies.
Reference List
Caerteling, J., Halman, J., and Doree, A. (2008).Technology commercialization in road infrastructure: How government affects the variation and appropriability of technology. The Journal of Product Innovation Management, 25: 143-161.
Sekaran, U. (2006). Research methods for business: A skill building approach. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons Inc.