Exploring the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM): Impact on innovation ecosystem in India

To make India one of the leaders in solar energy generation and to promote ecologically sustainable growth that addresses the nation’s energy security challenge is one of the promising goals of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) or National Solar Mission. This paper presents the country’s current solar energy scenario and explores ways in which various actors, agencies and policies shape the mission from the different perspectives on innovation literature. Innovation ecosystem is one of the perspectives where the sense of environment or ecology of various institutions, actors and other factors surrounds the activity of research and innovation. In this ecosystem, there is no single actor that can perform independently. The research outcomes, especially the patents, research publications and R&D investment, have become an increasingly essential area after the announcement of the JNNSM. The study also highlights that the number of research papers published in relation to solar energy has increased and there is a significant presence of productive R&D institutions, universities and supportive policy initiatives in the country.