Editing Standardization (section)

===Effect on technology===
Much like the effect on consumers, the effect of standardization on technology and innovation is mixed.<ref>{{cite web|last=Blind|first= K. |year=2013|title= The impact of standardisation and standards on innovation |id =NESTA Working Paper 13/15|website= NESTA |url = https://www.nesta.org.uk/sites/default/files/the_impact_of_standardization_and_standards_on_innovation.pdf|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170829215500/https://www.nesta.org.uk/sites/default/files/the_impact_of_standardization_and_standards_on_innovation.pdf |archive-date = 29 August 2017}}</ref> Meanwhile, the various links between research and standardization have been identified,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blind |first1=K. |last2=Gauch |first2=S. | year=2009 |title=Research and standardisation in nanotechnology: evidence from Germany|journal=The Journal of Technology Transfer|issue=3|volume= 34|pages=320–342|doi=10.1007/s10961-008-9089-8|s2cid=154210261 }}</ref> also as a platform of knowledge transfer<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blind |first1=K. |last2=Mangelsdorf|first2=A.|year=2016|title=Motives to standardize: Empirical evidence from Germany|journal=Technovation|volume=48–49|pages=13–24|doi=10.1016/j.technovation.2016.01.001|doi-access=free}}</ref> and translated into policy measures (e.g. [http://www.bmwi.de/DE/service,did=746982.html WIPANO]).

Increased adoption of a new technology as a result of standardization is important because rival and incompatible approaches competing in the marketplace can slow or even kill the growth of the technology (a state known as [[market fragmentation]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Shapiro|first=Carl|title=Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy|url=https://archive.org/details/informationrules00shap_752|url-access=limited|date=1999|publisher=Harvard Business School Press|location=Boston, Mass|page=[https://archive.org/details/informationrules00shap_752/page/n270 264]|author2=Hal R. Varian |isbn=9780875848631 }}</ref> The shift to a modularized architecture as a result of standardization brings increased flexibility, rapid introduction of new products, and the ability to more closely meet individual customer's needs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Christensen|first=Clayton M.|title=The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth|url=https://archive.org/details/innovatorssoluti00chri|url-access=registration|date=2003|publisher=Harvard Business School Press|location=Boston, Mass|pages=[https://archive.org/details/innovatorssoluti00chri/page/131 131–132]|author2=Michael E. Raynor |isbn=9781578518524 }}</ref>

The negative effects of standardization on technology have to do with its tendency to restrict new technology and innovation. Standards shift competition from features to price because the features are defined by the standard. The degree to which this is true depends on the specificity of the standard.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shapiro|first=Carl|title=Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy|url=https://archive.org/details/informationrules00shap_752|url-access=limited|date=1999|publisher=Harvard Business School Press|location=Boston, Mass|page=[https://archive.org/details/informationrules00shap_752/page/n238 231]|author2=Hal R. Varian |isbn=9780875848631 }}</ref> Standardization in an area also rules out alternative technologies as options while encouraging others.<ref>Cowan, Robin. "High Technology and the Economics of Standardization." Paper presented at the International Conference on Social and Institutional Factors Shaping Technological Development: Technology at the Outset, Berlin, Germany, May 27–28, 1991. p. 12</ref>