Catching up in clean energy technologies: a patent analysis

  • Deyu Li
  • , Floor Alkemade
  • , Koen Frenken (Corresponding author)
  • , Gaston Heimeriks

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

How we can accelerate the diffusion of new clean energy technologies worldwide is a highly relevant topic for energy and climate policies, as well as industrial policies. We trace the time lag between the introduction and the diffusion of breakthroughs in solar photovoltaic technology and wind power technology. Our results show that both domestic knowledge base and organizational proximity to the country introducing breakthroughs, help latecomer countries catch up by actively innovating in these technologies on their own. Moreover, we find that there are more opportunities for latecomer countries with stronger domestic knowledge base to catch up in solar photovoltaic technology than wind power technology. The results of this paper provide systematic evidence of the technology-sensitive catching-up process in the clean energy technological paradigm.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)693–715
Number of pages23
JournalJournal of Technology Transfer
Volume48
Issue number2
Early online date7 Jan 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors thank the guest editors of the special issue and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. The first author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) [grant number ES/S010688/1] and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation action [grant agreement id 730403]. The second author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [grant number 452-13-010].

Funding

The authors thank the guest editors of the special issue and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. The first author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) [grant number ES/S010688/1] and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation action [grant agreement id 730403]. The second author gratefully acknowledges the support of the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [grant number 452-13-010].

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
    SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
  2. SDG 13 - Climate Action
    SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

  • Catching-up
  • Diffusion
  • Multinational companies
  • Proximity
  • Relatedness
  • Solar photovoltaic technology
  • Wind power technology

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