Who innovates with whom and why? Evidence from international collaboration in energy patenting

Abstract

The use of renewable and alternative energy technologies, which have the potential to reduce carbon emissions worldwide, is limited. Common environmental policy environments may encourage inventors to share the costs and risks needed to develop high quality energy technologies. In this work, I study the propensity to collaboratively innovate by examining counts of renewable energy and alternative energy patents from 1990–2013 that have multiple inventors that are located in more than one country. Results from a gravity model framework suggest that similarity in environmental regulations is an important, positive driver of collaboration in energy technologies. I find that this impact is driven by market-based environmental policies that give inventors the flexibility to seek out international partnerships. I provide evidence that market-based environmental policy similarity may encourage collaboration across geographic and cultural distances but may not encourage collaboration across technologically dissimilar nations.