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Specialization in climate technologies at the regional level in Europe: relatedness and the moderating role of policy direction

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  • You, Zhuoying
  • Teirlinck, Peter

Abstract

This study focuses on the influence of related and unrelated variety on specialization in climate change mitigation technologies on a regional level in Europe. We consider two dimensions of specialization: the degree of specialization and being specialized or not. We also investigate the moderating role of public policy direction towards climate change mitigation at regional, national, and EU regime level. Based on a fixed effect specification of patent data relating to climate technologies in 194 regions during the period 2008–2017, we find that related variety positively influences the degree of specialization in climate technologies, but only in regions with a low degree of specialization. We also report a weakening effect of national policy level environmental taxation and of the European Regional Development Fund for related variety. Regarding being specialized as a region in climate technologies, our study reveals a positive role played by unrelated variety and a negative moderating effect exerted by both national policy level environmental taxation and European Regional Development Fund policy support. We discuss implications for policymaking in the field of climate change mitigation technologies.

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  • You, Zhuoying & Teirlinck, Peter, 2024. "Specialization in climate technologies at the regional level in Europe: relatedness and the moderating role of policy direction," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:203:y:2024:i:c:s0040162524001446
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123348
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