BC3-UPV/EHU Seminars: Impact of climate policy and external shocks on innovation in renewable energy technologies

BC3-UPV/EHU Seminars
“Impact of climate policy and external shocks on innovation in renewable energy technologies“

Dr Pia Weiss,
Lecturer for Industrial Economics (Nottingham University Business School)

Abstract

Environmental regulations enforced after 1997 in signatory states of the Kyoto Protocol were partly designed to meet the emission reduction targets to which the countries committed to. One of the pillars of climate change policy is to boost development and use of renewable energy technologies (RET). A number of empirical studies investigated the impact of environmental regulations on innovative activities in RET. Since they rely an traditional empirical methods, they present an incomplete picture. We complement this view by applying innovative methods frequently employed in social network analysis.

We show that the first oil price shock and the signing of the Kyoto Protocol had a profound effect on the patenting activities in RET. Both shocks resulted in research that looked beyond the known traditional knowledge fields to find better solutions in RET. Above all, we find that both shocks led researchers to exploit synergies in apparently distinct technology fields.