The Evolution Of Low Carbon Vehicle Technology Innovation Networks

At present, the world is facing the problem of severe climate change, energyshortage and environmental degradation. Development and application of advancedtechnology is the basic solution to climate change problem. Low carbon technologyinnovation and adoption in auto industry will give rise to the change in the globalenergy industry chain. There is strong global concern on how to reduce the impact ofthe automobile exhaust on atmospheric environmental. Auto industry is in urgent needof low carbon technology revolution. Low carbon vehicle technology shows thecharacteristics of multidisciplinary and multi-field integration, strong externality, biginvestment, high risk, technical complexity and market uncertainty, which isinsurmountable for single enterprise to cope with. Therefore, low carbon vehicletechnology innovation and development calls for extensive technological innovationnetworks. Few researchers combine the research on low carbon vehicle technologyinnovation with that on innovation networks. Quantitative empirical analysis and casestudy of low carbon vehicle technology and the characteristics and evolution path ofits innovation networks are in need. Therefore, research on low carbon vehicletechnology development strategy as well as innovation networks’ characteristics andevolution path is of theoretical and practical significance.This paper analyzes the low carbon vehicle technology and its innovationnetworks’ characteristics and evolution, and discusses how to conduct low carbonvehicle technology innovation more effectively in the innovation networks. In theprocess of study, theoretical analysis, simulation analysis, empirical analysis and casestudy are combined.The main content of this paper includes:(1) Analysis of lowcarbon vehicle technology innovation networks composition and operation. Firstly,this paper discusses the main characteristics of low carbon vehicle technologyinnovation networks. Secondly; this paper explains the composition and operationmode of low carbon vehicle technology innovation networks. Then, supply chainoperation in a low carbon vehicle technology innovation networks is discussed andlow-carbon supply chain based on life cycle analysis is built. In addition, the systemof low carbon vehicle technology innovation networks is simulated.(2) Constructionof the leading low-carbon vehicle technology organizations’ innovation network inglobal auto industry and its feature analysis. First of all, this paper depicts patent datasource and the method of data collection. Second, the low carbon vehicle technology innovation networks of top100global organizations from1992to2011are built.Based on the global low-carbon vehicle innovation networks, the characteristic of thenetwork is calculated by Ucinet software. The result shows: the network density is low;the actors in the network are not closely connected; information transmission is slow;Toyota occupied the center position in the network, and possesses abundant socialcapital. Meanwhile, the innovation networks visualization is carried out, andproximity is found in the innovation networks of low carbon vehicle technology.(3)Evolution mechanism analysis of low carbon vehicle technology and its innovationnetworks. Firstly, the symbiotic evolutionary relationship between low carbon vehicletechnology and innovation networks is illustrated. Secondly, the evolution mechanismof low carbon technology and its innovation network is analyzed. Then, theevolutionary game model of government and enterprises in low carbon vehicletechnology innovation networks is built.(4) Analysis of low carbon vehicletechnology and its global leading organizations’ innovation networks evolution. In thefirst place, based on the low carbon technology evolution conceptual framework ofglobal automotive industry, the evolution path of global low carbon vehicletechnology is analyzed. Secondly, the empirical analysis on the evolution path ofglobal low carbon vehicle technology innovation networks from1992to2011isconducted, which comprises four stages. In the evolution of networks, the innovationnetworks intensity of global low-carbon technology leading organization in the autoindustry gradually increased, core organization of the innovation networks becameprominent, which included automakers and suppliers, such as Toyota, BMW, Honda,Nissan, Denso, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and General Motors.(5) Case study onToyota low-carbon innovation networks. Based on the fact that Toyota motor poses acrucial and dominant position in low carbon technology innovation networks of globalauto industry leading organization, Toyota is selected as the research object, thesystematic and in-depth analysis of the low carbon vehicle technology leadingcompanies’network characteristics and evolution is taken along with the research onlow carbon vehicle technology innovation development strategy. It is found thatToyota associated organization and its suppliers, besides Toyota, occupy the mostimportant position and have the largest number of linkages in the network.Cooperative innovation of low carbon vehicle technology in Toyota ego networkmainly concentrated on the electric traction, fuel cell and its manufacture, vehiclepower supply, battery or battery pack charge and power supply, vehicle transmissionand power controller, electric energy storage technology and motor technology. Meanwhile, Toyota innovation partners’ technology association networksshows thefollowing trends: network scale gradually increases, network density rises gradually;and network clustering trend gradually strengthens. In the end, Toyota’s low carbonvehicle technology innovation development strategy is summarized; conclusions aredrawn and corresponding policy proposals are put forward.Based on literature review, theoretical analysis, simulation, game analysis,empirical analysis and case study, this paper conduct in-depth study on the innovationnetworks evolution of low carbon vehicle technology. This article extends theapplication range of the path dependence theory and evolutionary game theory,provides new quantitative analysis methods for low carbon vehicle technologyinnovation networks, enriches and deepens technology and network evolution theory,helps China’s enterprises and related organizations to better integrate into the globallow carbon vehicle technology innovation network, and contributes to guiding thegovernment give full play to its role in low carbon vehicle technology innovation. Butconstrained by personal ability, data availability and interdisciplinary comprehensiverequirements for knowledge, this article has certain limitations, which need to beimproved through further studies.