Green technologies and Smart Specialisation Strategies: a European patent-based analysis of the intertwining of technological relatedness and key enabling technologies

Sandro Montresor () and Francesco Quatraro

Regional Studies, 2020, vol. 54, issue 10, 1354-1365

Abstract: This paper investigates the green diversification of regional technologies and its consistency with the Smart Specialisation logic of related diversification. It also analyses the role that key enabling technologies (KETs), as a key pillar of Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3), have in green branching. Working on a patent-based panel (1981–2013) of 240 European regions, it is found that the relatedness to pre-existing knowledge makes a new green-tech specialization more probable. This holds true for the relatedness to both green and non-green pre-existing knowledge, but to a greater extent for the latter. Thus, the ‘hybridization’ of non-environmental technologies seems to require lower cognitive proximity than ‘pure’ green branching. Regional KETs also facilitate the transition towards sustainable technologies and negatively moderate the green impact of the relatedness to pre-existing technologies, both green and non-green. The results confirm that Smart Specialisation policies and the support to KETs could also help regions move towards environmental sustainability.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (38)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00343404.2019.1648784 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Green Technologies and Smart Specialisation Strategies: A European Patent-Based Analysis of the Intertwining of Technological Relatedness and Key-Enabling-Technologies (2018)
Working Paper: Green Technologies and Smart Specialisation Strategies: A European Patent-Based Analysis of the Intertwining of Technological Relatedness and Key-Enabling-Technologies (2018)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:regstd:v:54:y:2020:i:10:p:1354-1365

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CRES20

DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2019.1648784

Access Statistics for this article

Regional Studies is currently edited by Ivan Turok

More articles in Regional Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().