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82 APPENDIX G Impediments to Innovation in Highway Transportation Principal Impediments to Innovations in Highway Transportation Excerpted from TRB Special Report 256: Managing Technology TransferâA Strategy for the Federal Highway Administration (1999) Principal Impediments to Innovations in Highway Transportation Impediment Category Type Description Technical Procurement Legal Public Sector and Institutional Testing and demonstration Standards Testing to failure Disclosure rules Low-bid contracts Life-cycle costs Specifications Designâbuild limitations Product liability and insurance costs Community participation Permit process Resistance to change Lack of institutional incentives Limited agency capabilities Interest group resistance Effect of political patronage New technologies need to be tested and demonstrated thoroughly before public agencies will accept them in competition with other, well-established technologies. Standards-setting groups that offer a safeguard against unexpected failure are often slow and deliberate and can delay implementation of innovative solutions. Long-term testing is difficult and expensive and can preclude innovative solu- tions that are large and/or expensive. Public-sector disclosure rules can prevent the use (and advantages) of a propri- etary design or process. Such contract awards do not account for future operating and maintenance costs and can result in higher total costs. Making awards based on life-cycle costs is difficult; adequate information on such costs may not be available. Public agencies rely on design or method specifications. This can discourage innovative techniques and products that could be considered if performance specifications were used. Requiring that separate firms provide design and construction dampens the potential for innovation. The potential for product liability tort claims, high insurance costs, and prospects for litigation discourage both the development and application of new techniques and products. Technical choices are open to such intense public scrutiny that officials avoid controversy by relying on engineering design standards that simply repeat pre- vious practice. Federal, state, and local permit processes are needed to protect public health and safety, but can preempt consideration of innovative solutions. The natural tendency to resist change and the conservative nature of public- sector organizations institutionalize this resistance. Highway agency engineers have little incentive to examine new or innovative technologies to solve familiar problems. Highway agencies with limited technical capabilities may be unable to main- tain complex new technology. Many organizations and interest groups committed to preserving the status quo act as a check on innovation. Political patronage can dilute agency technical competence, further reducing the incentive for innovation. (continued )
83 Public Sector and Institutional General Factors that Impede Implementation of Research Findings Excerpted from NCHRP Report 382: Facilitating the Implementation of Research Findings: A Summary Report (1996) Factors Pertaining to the Characteristics of Research Results ⢠Allocation of patents, etc., unsettled ⢠Research output does not fit work procedures ⢠Research output not sufficiently tested ⢠Mismatch between research and user needs Factors Pertaining to the Organizational Context Internal organizational context ⢠Inadequate travel budget ⢠No local precedents ⢠Political involvement of managers ⢠Skill obsolescence ⢠Discomfort with change ⢠Inadequate resources ⢠Inflexible contract specifications ⢠Legal liability ⢠Organizational inertia ⢠Risk aversion External organizational context ⢠Hi-tech government support bias ⢠Dispersed funding authority ⢠Privateâpublic tensions ⢠No local precedent ⢠Contractor investment risk ⢠Research-user culture gaps ⢠Unclear national objectives Factors Pertaining to the Implementation Process ⢠Researchers not market-oriented ⢠Unknown information source ⢠Costliness ⢠One-way dissemination ⢠Poor quality/relevance filters ⢠User successes unpublicized Principal Impediments to Innovations in Highway Transportation Impediment Category Type Description Employment practices and work rules Technology mismatch Limited resources Employment practices and compensation can restrict the ability of public agen- cies to hire personnel needed to implement and maintain new technologies. There are possible mismatches between technologies employed today and those needed to meet future demand, as well as possible mismatches between existing and future job skill. Resources for R&D in the public sector are limited; the size and complexity of the market limit interest in infrastructure problems. (continued )
