What is co-operative innovation in the photovoltaic industry?

Cooperative innovation spread from the east to west in space and from the central area to surrounding cities. In terms of the industry chain, the initial innovation cooperation (in 2010) of the photovoltaic industry focused on mid-stream links such as solar cells and module manufacturing.

What drives the innovation network dynamics of the photovoltaic industry?

The innovation ability of the actors in the network is one of the driving factors of the innovation network dynamics of the photovoltaic industry. The actors with strong innovation abilities show outstanding performance in innovation resources, internal culture, and management philosophy.

Why is the solar photovoltaic industry important?

Speaking after the signature ceremony, Commissioner Kadri Simson said 'The solar photovoltaic manufacturing sector is key for achieving our energy, climate and competitiveness goals. We must ensure the solar industry remains strong for Europe’s future, renewables-centred energy mix.

What is the core competitiveness of photovoltaic firms?

As a technology-intensive industry, the core competitiveness of photovoltaic firms is technological innovation capability. Moreover, photovoltaic technology has the characteristics of interdisciplinary , thus, innovation cooperation among photovoltaic firms is especially necessary .

How does geographic proximity affect Photovoltaic Industry Innovation?

Not only is geographic proximity used as one of the drivers of the evolution of the photovoltaic industry innovation network but the Stochastic Actor-Oriented (SAO) Model is also employed to measure the threshold of geographic distance for innovation cooperation to draw more regularity conclusions. The rest of the article is organized as follows.

How is China's photovoltaic industry innovation network evolving?

The proportion of cooperative activities within firm groups has remained above 40% for a long time. Moreover, the leading firms in the industry also play a leading role in the innovation network. Innovation ability and organizational proximity play key roles in the evolution of China's photovoltaic industry innovation network.