Managing Standards for mCHP on Company Level

Abstract

micro Combined Heat and Power (mCHP) technology was developed by several established companies and start-ups in parallel. This chapter provides detailed insights into the different companies' innovation management approaches. Based on in-depth interviews, it compares how these firms managed standards and regulation while developing their mCHP products. It shows the types of awareness, expertise, and resources needed to provide a solid foundation for addressing standards and regulation that affect an innovation. Building on this, the chapter shows how these factors enable managers to introduce their innovations into highly regulated markets. The findings outlined in Chapter 3 show the importance of standards for developing the technology of mCHP and bringing the appliances to the market in Europe, thus making standards a key issue to manage as part of this development. Processes to manage these standards occurred on two levels: (1) Each of the involved companies had its own internal NPD process, as part of which standards were addressed. (2) In parallel to these company-internal activities, the industry collaborated on developing new and adapting existing standards to allow mCHP's development, where needed. Both levels interacted throughout the process, i.e. work CHAPTER 4