The influence of the technological regime on the global light-emitting diode industry: lessons from innovative leaders and latecomers

The light-emitting diode (LED) sources have become the first efficiency recommendation and one of the top sustainability measures in building a sustainable economy and eco-friendly society. The emergence and rapid development of latecomers to low-carbon LED technology in Asia has shifted the oligopolistic structure that had been appropriated by the first-movers in the US, Europe and Japan. It is thus critical to understand the innovation trajectories and influential factors for reinforcing the development of the global LED industry. This study highlights the variations of technological regime in dominant firms, demonstrating that the eco-innovations in the global LED technological regime is built sequentially, by product innovation of international leaders through technological appropriation (i.e. intellectual property rights), process innovation of Korean and Taiwanese latecomers through production capability, followed by various diffusion modes integrating with Chinese and other latecomers through market and production competition in the global LED industry. Three policy imperatives are then elaborated.