Technological learning in microalgae production systems: revisiting the experience curve and the learning mechanisms

Álvarez, Victória del Pino

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/1690

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Authors

Álvarez, Victória del Pino

Advisor(s)

Noronha, Teresa de

Saraiva, Pedro

Abstract(s)

Facing the world scenario, businesses are striving for efficiency and profitability. The processes of innovation, learning, and experience accumulation are, indeed, thought to be crucial for sustaining competitiveness of businesses. The experience curve concept integrates those processes, as it is based on the premise that the more often a task is performed, the lower will be the cost of doing it. Although extensive research has shown that cumulative experience leads to performance improvement, across numerous sectors, our work fills part of the existing knowledge gap by focusing on experience curve and learning aspects of the modern biotechnology of Microalgae Production Systems (MPS). Microalgae are one of the most exciting future-oriented business areas of modern biotechnologies, which have turned into an important global industry, with a diversified field of applications. The particularities of learning and experience accumulation processes were introduced in our work. Our study also addressed some of the applications and misapplications of the experience curve concept. We also reported on some of the perspectives and advances of the MPS, the general technical description of the MPS, the technological trends, as well as the future challenges. The research methodology is based on the case-study of Necton S.A., a pioneer Portuguese firm, dedicated, since 1997, to microalgae cultivation. Therefore, in an attempt to understand the technical complexity of microalgal biotechnology, the learning ix process, underlying the technological development, was studied through different research questions. Data was, mainly, collected from production records provided and from a set of interviews, conducted with the company workers. The results confirm that: i) the different MPS studied follow an experience curve, with progress ratios which are in between the ones determined for manufacturing firms and energy technologies; ii) the learning mechanisms play a similar role through the technologies life-cycle, although the MPS studied are different in technological complexity; iii) learning-by-doing is more relevant in early technology stages, learning-by-using appears to be fundamental in the maturity stage, and learning-by-searching is critical to solve particular technical constraints.