Kyungsun Lee
Postdoc Research Associate
Texas A&M University
In Person:
GUGG 205
Jan 28, 2022, 3:30 PM
Or Join via Zoom:
cuboulder.zoom.us/j/93185557747
Due to growing populations and climate change, existing freshwater sources and water infrastructure are not sufficient to address the challenges of urban water insecurity. Desalination is considered one of the major technological interventions to address the increased pressure on freshwater resources. However, there are several impediments to their sustainable implementation. To understand those impediments for implementation, the nature and dynamics of the global desalination sector should be understood. The global desalination sector, majorly composed of multinational corporations, takes an important role to develop and diffuse innovative technology and affect the decision-making on implementing these technologies at the national and local level. Moreover, the global desalination sector creates technology path dependencies that ave a substantial impact on the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of desalination technology. In this presentation, Dr. Lee will talk about the nature and dynamics of the global desalination sector and its relationship to socio-technical pathways and global uptake. It includes who the major players are, what kinds of technology were developed, what the drivers and barriers for implementation are, and how the major players are thinking about the sustainability of the global desalination sector. This research contributes to a better understanding of the role of the corporation on sustainability transition and knowledge development and diffusion on the global production network.