Co-Evolution of Technologies, Key Components and Institutions in the Case of Smart Houses in Japan

Smart houses aim to offer an innovative solution to provide a level of smartness that has not existed, such as home energy management or automation. Various devices must be connected to function as a whole integrated system, so that standards become an important issue. An analysis is made of the co-evolution of technologies, key components and institutions in the case of smart houses. We aim to address the questions, 1) How has the technological accumulation process of HEMS (Home Energy Management System), the key component of smart houses taken place? 2) How have the strategies towards smart houses evolved for a leading smart house maker? 3) How have the institutions such as government policy and standards related to smart houses evolved in Japan? Interviews were carried out with leading personnel in industry, government and other institutions related to smart houses and HEMS such as NEC, Sekisui HEIM and METI. Patents were utilized as the main data source for the quantitative analysis of HEMS. By investigating the technology space, we visualized the process of technological evolution of HEMS by identifying distinctive stages of technological development. The key players are identified and correspondingly the process of each player's technological accumulation process is investigated. The evolution of smart houses has shown that they have reached the 3rd stage of innovation model of smart house.