Process innovation types

But sequential innovations often add much more to social value as well as to reduce cost through process and follow-on innovations (Sinclair, Klepper, and Cohen 2000). With an innovation in the public domain, firms may have a lower incentive to improve upon it. But in the case of vaccines, a follow-on innovation may also qualify for a new round ofprizes. The case of cost-saving process innovations may be a concern, but for these types of innovations patents have been shown to be less important than other mechanisms such as secrecy (Walsh, Arora, and Cohen 2003). 

Recent years have witnessed a considerable effort to determine the effect of government regulation on product innovation, but little has been done with respect to process innovation. In this paper, a framework for an analysis of this type is described and is applied to process change in the production of anhydrous ammonia. The ideas in the paper are more fully developed in (1). 

The modular construction of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa ABWR is shown in Fig. 1.1. Modules of base mat, control room, containment shell, etc. are prefabricated either at their factories or at the construction site. They are erected and put in place at the construction site. This is another type of production process innovation and it shortened the construction period. 

In the 1980s, computer aided design (CAD) of nuclear power plants was extensively developed in Japan. It replaced handwritten drawings and the scaled plastic models of the plants. Handling and modification of the drawings became much easier than before. Connection of piping and maintenance spaces for equipment could be easily checked on the computer. Presently, design information in the computer is used not only for construction but also for maintenance of the plants. This is a third type of production process innovation. 

During the 1980s few innovations were disclosed in the Hterature. The hydroxylation of phenol by hydrogen peroxide has been extensively studied in order to improve the catalytic system as well as to master the ratio of hydroquinone to catechol. Other routes, targeting a selective access to one of the dihydroxyben2enes, have appeared. World production capacities according to countries and process types are presented in Table 1. 

Production of a metal is usually achieved by a sequence of chemical processes represented as a flow sheet. A limited number of unit processes are commonly used in extractive metallurgy. The combination of these steps and the precise conditions of operations vary significantly from metal to metal, and even for the same metal these steps vary with the type of ore or raw material. The technology of extraction processes was developed in an empirical way, and technical innovations often preceded scientific understanding of the processes. 

A database of the hazards associated with different types of equipment and unit operations including the applicability of inherently safer technology in each. As innovative solutions to hazards in equipment and process operations are discovered these could be included in this database for use by others in reducing risk in similar equipment and processes. A summary of design approaches for a number of common types of chemical process equipment will be published in CCPS (1997). This summary may be a starting point for the development of this database. 

For the electronic component industry, different types of plastics and processes are extensively used. Not too evident is the high powered action of electronics in the plastic toy industry. The digital revolution has opened up a variety of new applications in smart microprocessor-based toys that use technology in innovative ways. Foremost player is the MIT Media Laboratory s Toys of Tomorrow (TOT) consortium that was organized in April 1998. 

The selection of a type of basic subunit is the first step in the elaboration of interpretative tools. An analysis of this work, which represent the essence of the innovative activity of group II is not possible here, ft sufficient to remark that during this process of elaboration there has been important "admixtures" of concepts having their origin in different choices of the basic subunits. 

Starting from the model and the stock of hypotheses, it was possible in the deductive top down movement , on the other hand, to make more accurate enquiries regarding the particular innovation processes in the case studies. As stated, both these movements must only be differentiated as ideal types. 

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