Effectiveness of an ‘open innovation’ approach in renewable energy: Empirical evidence from a survey on solar and wind power

Juliana Subtil Lacerda*, Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

186 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Driven by a rapid development of the so-called ‘open innovation’ paradigm, previous studies have provided broad evidence of the positive effects of external knowledge sources on innovation. Yet, little is known about the impact of external knowledge sources on innovative activities in the renewable energy sector. Based on an analysis of original survey results involving R&D organisations, we examine the role of different knowledge sourcing strategies for innovation in two technology fields, namely solar and wind power. The link between external knowledge sourcing and innovation performance is found to depend on sourcing strategies and technology fields. Our results contribute to the evaluation of strategy design by showing that solar power innovation benefits from a broad search strategy drawing on a large number of external knowledge sources, while wind power innovation tends to thrive through intensive use of a more limited number of external sources. We derive implications for innovation and energy policy.

Original languageEnglish
Article number109505
Pages (from-to)1-13
Number of pages13
JournalRenewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Volume118
Early online date5 Nov 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2020

Keywords

  • Knowledge sourcing strategies
  • Open innovation
  • Renewable energy
  • Solar power
  • Wind power

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Effectiveness of an ‘open innovation’ approach in renewable energy: Empirical evidence from a survey on solar and wind power'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this