Who is the Global Fuel Cell Leader Today? What the United States Needs to Do to Get Back in the Lead

摘要

Three government entities have vigorously competed for leadership in the fuel cell field—the EU (the European Union in combination with individual European state government), Japan, and the United States. For many years, Japan had no significant fuel cell accomplishments, nor had it successfully brought to market fuel cell products. Yet today Japan is leading the world in fuel cell market share. How did they do it? The story is simple. It worked out a long term plan and stuck with it. Key laws were enacted to address the inferior science and technology competence in Japan and promote originality, inventiveness, and entrepreneurship. Second, the government ensured that the laws were implemented by all the relevant ministries. Third, policy initiatives were developed to promote fuel cell technology, which were supported by the entire government, including the Prime Minister's office. Fourth, the government published ambitious fuel cell roadmaps and demonstrated consistent and strong leadership to ensure that industry joined forces with the government. Finally, the government provided a robust and stable fuel cell budget. As a result, Japan now leads the world in fuel cell patents and has the largest market for fuel cell products in the world. Comparisons with the EU and US programs suggest that Japan could remain the leader for some time to come, unless the US adopts a new strategy for fuel cell development. This strategy will require building a political consensus between government and industry as well as undertaking substantial changes to R&D programs and management.