Diversity in the Barriers to Adoption of Manufacturing-Enabling Technologies: Variations in the Role of Government Fostering Manufacturing Innovation

Abstract

The introduction of emerging manufacturing technologies is often hindered by a lack of complementary engineering tools. These manufacturing-enabling technologies (MET) help establish robust quality control procedures and accelerate the design and testing phases. Firms innovating the emerging technologies may, however, be reluctant to develop METs on their own, as these technologies may not be part of their core competencies and are hardly appropriable. MET developers may be inhibited by the high levels of technical and market risk. Public policy may play an important role in helping industry overcome those barriers. Although proposed policies to facilitate the adoption of MET should take into account technology-level differences, existing literature often categorizes all of them under the same label. In this paper we unpack the potential differences across MET in terms of their benefits and barriers to industry adoption, how these factors may affect the case for government support, and the implications for the effectiveness of government programs. We use the case of advanced composite materials in aviation to analyze the barriers to adoption across MET, and how these barriers may affect the case for government support. We identify and characterize subcategories of MET which existing literature does not usually distinguish: manufacturing and repair methods; virtual design and modelling tools; quality control and damage evaluation; and material characterization methods. From the comparison across the four families of MET, we propose a framework to help assess the need for government support, depending on the specific barriers to adoption of each specific technology.