Dynamic Co-Capabilities in Innovation Management: the Case of Power-To-Gas Technology Development and Implementation

Abstract

Power-to-gas technology has a great potential to facilitate the integration of renewables into the energy grid, but there are operative and system-level challenges in the development and implementation of this innovative technology. The authors aimed to explore with qualitative methodology the innovation management challenges which emerge during cooperatively performed technology development and implementation tasks by power-to-gas developer startups and established / multinational energy companies. The main findings of our research highlight the importance of complementary capabilities between smaller and larger organizations. The exploitation of these synergies can be hampered, however, by the contradictory organizational characteristics. Our research results conclude that technological and cooperation challenges can be solved by dynamic co-capabilities which help to explore and exploit complementarities between startups and established / multinational energy companies resulting in scaled-up technological innovation and significant steps forward towards an increased level of integration of renewable resources into the energy grid, as well a towards the transformation of the energy sector.

Keywords: power-to-gas technology, innovation management, dynamic capabilities, technology development, technology implementation, renewables, energy sector transformation