Knowledge flows and technologies in renewable energies at the regional level in Europe

Abstract

This study provides a new insight into the impact of knowledge flows for renewable energy (RE) technologies. With patent data for the European regions in the period 2000-10, we observe that RE technologies have more analytical knowledge content than the rest of the technologies. They also seem to benefit highly from both scientific knowledge flows and technological knowledge flows coming from distant places. This pattern is peculiar to the RE field and different from other cutting-edge technologies, and even different from those technologies related to energy generation coming from traditional energy sectors.