TPACTechnology Policy and Assessment Center
 
 

Competitive Analysis

Table of Contents

This section analyzes the actors involved in fuel cell innovation, with emphasis on the question: "Who are the players developing fuel cell technology?"

An analysis was conducted on the organizations researching each fuel cell type. Westinghouse Electric Corp. was found to lead fuel cell publication in both SOFC's and PAFC's.

Fig. 18: Competitive Analysis

Leading publishers on SOFC's

  • (I) Westinghouse Electric Corp.
  • (G) Riso National Lab, Denmark
  • (A) Imperial College of Science & Technology
  • (A) Univ of Ljubljana, Ljubljana
  • (G) Forschungszentrum Juelich G

Leading publishers on PAFC's

  • (I) Westinghouse Electric Corp.
  • (I) Energy Research Corp.
  • (I) Gilbert/Commonwealth Inc.
  • (G) CNR Inst for Transformation
  • (I) Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

Leading publishers on MCFC's

  • (I) Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
  • (A) Delft Univ of Technology, Denmark
  • (A) Illinois Inst of Technology
  • (I) GE, Corporate Research & Development
  • (G) Netherlands Energy Research

Leading publishers on PEMFC's

  • (G) Los Alamos National Laboratory
  • (A) Texas A&M University
  • (I) Ballard Power Systems, Inc.
  • (A) Royal Military College of Canada
  • (G) Paul Scherrer Institute

Leading publishers on AFC's

  • (G) NASA
  • (A) Technical Univ Graz, Graz, Austria
  • (I) International Fuel Cells Corp.
  • (A) Royal Inst of Technology
  • (G) Inst for Hydrogen Systems

R&D Opportunities
A secondary analysis was conducted on the patent research for several corporations. Fig. 19 displays the patent research in the top 10 patent classification areas for four leading U.S. firms. International Fuel Cells Corp. contributes significantly to the top areas of patent research. GE appears to patent in smaller niche areas outside the dominant categories.

Fig. 19: R&D Opportunities