VCCS on nanomaterials and other emerging technologies Sample Clauses

VCCS on nanomaterials and other emerging technologies. Value chain analysis is used to improve a product or a service so that it is commercially more valuable. This can be done on the level of the individual company, but also on a higher level of organisation such as an industry sector or a geographical region or even a country. It is also possible to construct global value chains and thus make analyses of individual components or the entire value chain. In short, the value chain analyses, which more or less equal the case studies, can be performed from a micro- or a macro-economic perspective. (See x.x. Xxxxxxxxx 2000; Xxxxxxx 2014; Xxxxxx and Xxxxx 2010; Xxxxxx 2008; Xxxxxxxx et al. 2012, for examples of published case studies focusing on sectors, countries, or global actors.) A sector where value chain case studies are common is agriculture, in a broad sense. There are thus several published studies available, of which the papers by Xxxxx and Xxxxxx 2010, Xxxxxxx et al 2014, and Xxxxxx et al 2011, are good examples of simultaneously broad and penetrating analyses. Value chains representing novel and emerging technologies have also appeared in the scientific literature in recent years. Thus, Xxxxxx (2012) investigated the added value of renewable energy systems (primarily introduction of solar panels) in a German city (Freiburg). Other examples of value adding activities related to solar energy have also been published (x.x. Xxxxxxx 2014; Xxxx and Xxxxxx 2011). Value chain case studies of nanomaterials are far and few between in the available literature. There are some reports that deal with limited parts of a value chain, and in many cases without a value chain perspective. There are also a limited number of reports that employ a life cycle perspective of a nanomaterial or a nano- enabled product. However, in summary, there seems to be a limited number of studies that are truly value chain analyses/case studies. Some studies should be mentioned however. Since nanomaterials are prominent parts of several approaches to renewable energies, there are studies that cover at least partly the value chains of energy-relevant applications (see x.x. Xxxxxxxxxxxx et al 2015; Xxxxx et al. 2013; Xxxxxxxx and Xxxxxxx 2015). Other “environmental” applications of engineered nanomaterials are also included in studies that have some value chain perspectives (Xxxxxx and Schindler 2015; Xxxxxxx and Xxxxxxx 2013). Some studies have relevance for safety assessment relevant for human health and the environment, without explicitly ...