Customer value in commercialization of sustainable innovations: Cellulose-based 3D printing material and technology
Silvennoinen, Mio (2021)
2021
Konetekniikan DI-ohjelma - Master's Programme in Mechanical Engineering
Tekniikan ja luonnontieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2021-09-15
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202109087025
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202109087025
Tiivistelmä
To create value for economic growth, new technologies need to be transferred into products that can generate sales. Many fully commercialized technologies fail because unsuitable commercialization strategies. Due to the need for renewable and recyclable materials and sustainable production methods, innovations are emerging. Therefore, new tools to evaluate potential of sustainable innovations are needed. Realizing customer value early in commercialization process is categorized to be one of the success factors in technology commercialization. However, this factor is stated to be under-researched. This study tries to investigate how early identification and understanding of customer value can support and facilitate the commercialization process. Additionally, environmental values are included in the evaluation.
To meet the research objective, a literature review and qualitative case study was conducted. The case selected is a publicly funded multi-national research and development project with aim of creating a novel cellulose-based 3D printing material and technology. The case project is called NOVUM. The literature review will focus on the known benefits of the technologies, customer value, commercialization process of technologies, challenges in commercializing technologies, and utilizing business models in commercializing process. The data was collected through six semi-structured interviews. The uniqueness of this case was the opportunity to study customer value of potential end users in an early phase of the commercialization process. Also, much of secondary data from the case project was utilized. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted for obtaining the goals. A theoretical framework for commercializing technology was created and experimented in this study.
This study shows that early participation of end users and understanding the real potential customer value can help companies to evaluate different commercialization strategies and recognize the key resources and processes required for creating and delivering the desired customer value. Realizing what truly delivers value to the customer can facilitate the commercialization and adoption of innovations.
To meet the research objective, a literature review and qualitative case study was conducted. The case selected is a publicly funded multi-national research and development project with aim of creating a novel cellulose-based 3D printing material and technology. The case project is called NOVUM. The literature review will focus on the known benefits of the technologies, customer value, commercialization process of technologies, challenges in commercializing technologies, and utilizing business models in commercializing process. The data was collected through six semi-structured interviews. The uniqueness of this case was the opportunity to study customer value of potential end users in an early phase of the commercialization process. Also, much of secondary data from the case project was utilized. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted for obtaining the goals. A theoretical framework for commercializing technology was created and experimented in this study.
This study shows that early participation of end users and understanding the real potential customer value can help companies to evaluate different commercialization strategies and recognize the key resources and processes required for creating and delivering the desired customer value. Realizing what truly delivers value to the customer can facilitate the commercialization and adoption of innovations.