Evaluation of R&D activities in the maritime industry: Managing sustainability transitions through business model

Abstract

The maritime industry is always at the forefront of knowledge and new technology. In recent years, the companies have used large resources in research and development (R&D) towards environmentally friendly technology. At the same time, there exist many issues around this: are those companies enough good at the utilizing of R&D fonds, i.e., do they put new technology together with solutions that are best adapted to the customer requirements (export-oriented), on the one hand, and are they efficient and sustainable, on another hand? Hence, the current paper aims to study how the R&D costs contribute to value creation and sustainable transition in the maritime industry. To achieve this goal, R&D activities in the maritime industry were analyzed using correlation and linear regression analyses between 2010 and 2019. The results show that those indicators that have the greatest positive impact on value-added are R&D expenditures in the business enterprise sector and turnover from product innovations. Also, it was revealed that there is a negative impact of trade indicators on value creation. In addition, the study proves that R&D activities are contributing to the sustainable transition of the maritime industry. Overall, it was concluded that without sufficient public support, strategy, and new business models, export-oriented industries benefit less from innovation. Acknowledgment The study is supported by a grant from the Research Based Innovation “SFI Marine Operation in Virtual Environment (SFI-MOVE)” (Project no: 237929) in Norway.