Enabling technologies mitigating climate change: The role of dominant designs in environmental innovation ecosystems

Global warming is no longer a trend, but reality, which calls for the development of new technologies. In this paper, we thus identify antecedents of enabling technologies and study the patterns of emergence of new fields of eco-innovation. For this, we suggest a conceptual framework focusing on environmental technologies, specifically on their emergence as enabling technologies in innovation ecosystems. We test this framework using data of 136,059 citations to 13,510 patents of climate change mitigation technologies. Complex and complementary technologies tend to be more enabling for subsequent innovation, and this effect is amplified for environmental technologies that constitute dominant designs. Dominant designs generated through a collaborative process, on the other hand, rarely become enabling technologies. We also contribute to climate action by allowing governmental bodies and other investors to direct funding to those innovations that are most likely to make a lasting impact on global warming. In addition, managers and policy makers can foment the antecedents that are most important to incite the development of climate change mitigation technologies.

Automated summary

This paper explores the emergence patterns of environmental technologies as enabling technologies in innovation ecosystems based on analysis of patent citation data. Complex and complementary technologies have a greater impact on subsequent innovation, while collaborative generated dominant designs rarely become enabling technologies. The findings provide guidance for governmental bodies and investors to direct funding towards innovations with lasting impact on global warming.