The European project solardesign illustrating the role of standardization in the innovation system

The Framework Program 7 Project SolarDesign is focused on new photovoltaic (PV) integrated product solutions. To achieve this, new materials, flexible production - and business processes in PV powered product design and architecture had to be developed. Promising markets such as sustainable housing, temporary building structures, outdoor activities, electro-mobility, road lighting and mobile computing drive the demand for decentralized, attractive energy solutions. As products have to respect existing standards SolarDesign from the begin decided to proactively integrate standardization into the project's efforts. The example PV driven streetlamp demonstrates the influence of standards on performance requirements of the innovative PV materials.