Strategic framework for commercialisation of fly ash innovations

ABSTRACT

Numerous innovative applications have been developed to utilise large quantity of fly ash generated at coal fired thermal power plants (TPPs) worldwide. However, this requires power plants to undertake the role of third-party innovation intermediaries, that is, commercialising technological innovations developed by others. As commercialising an innovation requires considerable resources, a well-considered selection and promotion are desired. The paper presents a strategic framework for commercialisation of fly ash innovations. Explanation for step-by-step implementation and generic pointers for strategy formulation for typical problems are suggested. The proposed framework is expected to assist coal-fired TPPs in formulating strategies to commercialise innovative utilisation of fly ash. The study contributes to scarcely addressed aspects of an open innovation paradigm, that is, challenges faced by third-party intermediaries.

KEYWORDS:

• Innovation commercialisation
• innovation intermediaries
• strategic management of innovation
• strategy formulation framework

Notes on contributors

M. I. M. Loya is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt from Sony Corporation Japan and qualified in Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Engineering. His work experience of over 22 years comprises about five years of consulting experience with reputed Japanese and Korean MNCs in the domain of Business to Business, Technology Transfer to India from overseas, about 11 years as Manager including about three years of overseas posting in Singapore, and about six years of teaching and research experience. Presently he is a research scholar at the National Institute of Technology, Raipur.

Dr. A.M. Rawani is Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Dean (Academic) at NIT, Raipur. He is M.Tech. in Industrial Engineering and Management from IIT, Kharagpur and Ph.D. from I.I.T. Delhi. He has about 32 years of teaching/research and administrative experience in Govt. Engg. Colleges/NIT. He has published more than four dozen papers in International/National Journals and Conferences. He is the Editor-in-Chief of various journals, a Life Member of Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management and Indian Society for Technical Education, a Fellow Life Member of Institution of Engineers (India), Member of International Association of Engineers, Hong Kong and also Fellow Member of International Economic Development and Research Centre Hong Kong.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.