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Among the multiplicity of missions that the Allied governments and armed forces sent to Europe towards the end and after World War II to document and exploit Nazi Germany's wartime scientific and industrial progress was the Australian Scientific and Technical Mission to Germany. Composed of less than a dozen personnel, the Mission was a modest but important component in the Australian Commonwealth Government's post-war foreign policy towards Germany and expansion of scientific and industrial development. Based at Australia House in London, the Mission worked in close cooperation with British Government departments, and was instrumental in the transnational transfer of German science and technology to Australia between 1946 and 1950 – initially under the auspices of the British Intelligence Objectives Sub-committee, and later through the Inter-Allied Reparation Agency and the Employment of Scientific and Technical Enemy Aliens scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany is the largest economy in Europe, and currently the fourth largest in the world. It is also the most innovative country as measured by patent registrations. Technology transfers originating in Germany are therefore highly innovative and have a great potential to positively impact the economic situation in other countries as well. As the patents are generally held by businesses, it is commonly assumed that the logic of transferring technologies across borders also follows an economic motive. Here, this motive is questioned in a quantitative analysis, showing what determines the selection of destination country for German businesses looking to transfer their technology. It is shown that, contrary to common perception, the primary motivation is developmental, not economic. This is in line with international political declarations and calls for more (and more effective) international technology transfer. Furthermore, the best way to support international technology transfer is through the presence of German experts providing support in manifold ways to those businesses interested in international transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies have elevated the capabilities and possibilities of improvement and efficiency in the energy sector. This paper interrogates how energy companies in South Africa, Germany and China apply 4IR technologies. A total of 26 energy companies in those countries were surveyed. An analysis was carried out using the Cronbach Alpha, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. Survey results indicate that 85% of companies acknowledge good levels of participation in the 4IR, and were clear about which 4IR technologies are important, although few companies develop these themselves. Technologies enabling access to big, real-time data (BRTD) and BRTD analysis software, are valued the most in measured importance, efficiency, reliability and ability to be integrated across the energy system. The transfer of data using the Internet of things ranked highly as a 4IR technology, whereas artificial intelligence, robotics and machine-human integration (also referred to as machine-human interaction) are considered less important, efficient, and reliable. China rates 4IR technologies as more important than South Africa and Germany do. For South Africa to be competitive in the global energy sector it needs to engage with and embrace 4IR technologies to a greater extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decarbonizing the heat sector is a major challenge in the energy transition in Germany and elsewhere. District heating systems could play an important role in this context. However, the diffusion of the technology in Germany has been very slow. The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the technological innovation system (TIS) to enhance understandings of the impediments to the diffusion of non-urban district heating systems. Due to its strong local context dependence, district heating can be understood as a configurational technology, and the TIS in which it is embedded as a configurational TIS. The paper contributes to the literature by developing policy suggestions that could lead to an acceleration of the diffusion of locally context-dependent technologies. The author recommends that policymaking in configurational TIS should aim at designing smart innovation system structures that can manage a high level of context specificity and facilitate vertical and horizontal knowledge exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding new industry partners poses a challenge to many public research organizations. This article explores how statistical classification can support partner selection at the example of the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, Europe's largest public organization for applied research. We use internal cooperation data and feature sets based on unstructured data, i.e., text and industry codes, both of which describe business activities of firms. An important advantage of this data is that it is available for most companies in Germany, even small and medium enterprises, which allows for an almost complete screening of the market, in contrast to using other data sources, e.g., patents. In addition, we also include economic variables linked to firms, as turnover, number of employees/managers and firm age. We report the performance of various classification techniques such as logistic regression, support vector machines, and random forests in our dataset for diverse combinations of feature sets. Results show that simple methods with fewer parameters remain competitive in comparison to complex ones. Overall, the performance of most classifiers is high enough to support the decision process of finding new industry partners for public research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the greater involvement of users and the co-creation of ideas with suppliers or other firms, innovation processes are increasingly based upon combinatorial knowledge. Thus, innovation is not restricted to research-and-development-driven, science-based knowledge, but is also the result of experiences and creative thinking. This has consequences for regional innovation policies because each knowledge type differs regarding policy requirements. Contributing to the under-researched topic of the barriers of combinatorial knowledge dynamics in practice, the aim of this paper was to guide government policies in transferring theoretical insights into a contemporary, place-based policy approach. In accordance with the knowledge base approach this paper clearly distinguishes between analytical knowledge, synthetic knowledge and symbolic knowledge. The analysis consists of in-depth interviews, conducted in two case-study regions in Germany. This paper deduces several local factors that have hampered combinatorial knowledge dynamics, and identifies obstacles that can only be overcome at the federal state or national levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers have debated the relative importance of technology push and demand pull policies in the adoption of environmental technologies. Here, we examine how internationally distributed technology push and demand pull policies interact to support the diffusion of a renewable energy technology. We analyze 40 years (1974–2013) of solar photovoltaic policies in three countries: USA, Germany, and China. We identify four phases of international policy interactions: in Phase 1 (1974–1990), the USA launched technology push policies; in Phase 2 (1991–2003), Germany pioneered demand pull policies; in Phase 3 (2004–2008), China responded to international market incentive programs with a scaling up of manufacturing; and in Phase 4 (2008–2013), Germany reduced whereas China increased demand policies. Our contributions are threefold: First, we demonstrate the importance of “manufacturing push” alongside the standard technology push and demand pull factors; second, we show how global adoption was spurred by the complementarity of policy efforts across national boundaries, while considering the tradeoffs in climate change policy between increasing global environmental welfare and improving national economic development; third, we demonstrate three generic patterns of cross-national policy complementarity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper, for the first time, presents comparable projections of travel behaviour impacts of the introduction of autonomous vehicles (AVs) into the private car fleet for two countries, namely the USA and Germany. The focus is on fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) which allow drivers to engage in other activities enroute. Two 2035 scenarios – a trend scenario and an extreme scenario – are presented for both study countries. For these projections, we combine a vehicle technology diffusion model and an aspatial travel demand model. Factors that influence AV impact in the behavioural model are mainly new automobile user groups, e.g. travellers with mobility impairments, and altered generalized costs of travel, e.g. due to a lower value of travel time savings for car travel. The results indicate that AV penetrations rates might be higher in Germany (10% or 38% respectively) than in the USA (8% or 29% respectively) due to a higher share of luxury cars and quicker fleet turnover. On the contrary, the increase of vehicle mileage induced by AVs is not higher in Germany (+2.4% or +8.6% respectively) than in the USA (+3.4% or +8.6% respectively). This is mainly due to the lack of mode alternatives and lower fuel costs resulting in a higher share of travel times among the total generalized costs of travel in the USA. These results clearly indicate that context factors shaped by national policy will influence AV adoption and impact on travel demand changes. Based on these results the paper draws policy recommendations which will help to harness the advantages of AVs while avoiding their negative consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this qualitative study was to analyze the elements that influence the process of innovation management in a public university in southern Brazil. It was conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 questions to three groups: six university managers; six researchers with only scientific production (articles) and seven researchers with also technological production (patents). After transcribing the interviews, the content analysis was performed in MAXQDA 12 software (Verbi GmbH, Berlin, Germany). The lack of understanding of the legal part (17.6%) and bureaucratization in the transfer process (14.7%) were the most frequently reported difficulties in the process of technology transfer. After identifying the main elements of innovation management in a public university, we proposed a new model in which the research projects are developed in conjunction with the productive sector since the beggining of technological development. Public policies and management measures to facilitate the interaction between academia and the productive sector can facilitate technology transfer and, consequently, management of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ways in which societies and institutions institutionalize and practice invention management reflects not only how new ideas are valued, but also imaginaries about the role of science and technology for societal development. Often taking the US Bayh-Dole-Act as a model, many European states have recently implemented changes in how inventions at academic institutions are to be handled to optimize their societal impact. We analyze how these changes have been taken up—and made sense of—in regions with different pre-existing infrastructures, practices and semantics of invention management. For doing so, we build on a comparative analysis of continuities and changes in infrastructures, practices and semantics of invention management in North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW, a former Western state) and Saxony (a former GDR state) to reflect on how academic institutions have been handling inventions along transforming socio-political contexts. Building on document analysis and qualitative interviews with research managers, we discuss ongoing differences in practices of invention management and the semantic framing of the societal value of inventions in NRW and Saxony, and discuss how this can be understood before the background of their ideological, political and economic separation until reunification in 1990. Joining the conceptual perspectives of path dependencies and sociotechnical imaginaries, we argue that two critical incidents in the history of these states (the reunification in 1990 and a legal change in 2002) allowed for wide-ranging institutional alignments, but also allowed path dependencies in practices and semantics of invention management to prevail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany has served as a role model in photovoltaic technology diffusion amongst house owners in the last two decades. A strong feed-in tariff scheme based on the Renewable Energies Act (EEG) supported - and to some extent - enabled this development, but due to skyrocketing costs it already has been and will be further reduced. So far changes in public policy have only slightly affected house owners with photovoltaic panels on their own house, but future policies have not been decided yet. This article uses the methodology of System Dynamics to develop a model of the German photovoltaic market for small plants on private houses and tests public policies. Amongst them are different scenarios regarding the reduction or even removal of the feed-in tariff scheme in Germany. The results can improve German public policies in the field of photovoltaic technology diffusion and serve as an example for other countries and other renewable energy diffusion cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Startups play a crucial role in introducing radical innovations and need to maintain a high level of product innovativeness (PI) to consolidate their business models and remain competitive. However, startups often face challenges and limitations that hinder their PI efforts and require external support from innovation intermediaries. Despite the prevalence of research on intermediaries, there is a limited understanding of the effect of their activities and capabilities - commonly referred to as orchestration functions - on startups' innovativeness. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the causal relationships between configurations of orchestration functions of intermediation and product innovativeness in startups. Drawing on the latest literature, we identify five orchestration functions that comprise the intermediary's impact structure, including Network Composition and Process Management (NCP), Fostering Networking and Partnerships for Resource Mobilization (FNP), Intermediation for Technology Transfer, Collaborative Research, and Commercialization (ITC), Identification and Mediation of Different Interests (IMD), and Evaluation and Validation of Outcomes (EVO). Using a mixed-methods approach incorporating the fsQCA method, we conducted a longitudinal investigation of 14 startups and their relationship with an innovation intermediary in Germany. Our results reveal that three specific configurations of all five intermediary functions can explain product innovativeness in startups. This study provides a valuable contribution to academia by proposing a set of configurations of orchestration functions that can explain startups' performance and provides practical implications for practitioners looking to enhance product innovativeness in startups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the importance of the socialization environment – nest – for the career destinations of early career researchers. In a sample of research groups in the fields of science and engineering at universities in Germany, we identify research orientation, output, funding as well as openness to industry and commercialization as relevant components. Nests that attract more public funding and are led by professors with high research performance are more likely to produce researchers who take jobs in public research, while links to industry predict jobs in the private sector. In a more nuanced analysis that differentiates between types of industry employment, we find that larger firms also recruit from groups with higher scientific performance, while small and medium-sized firms recruit from nests with a higher patent productivity. A focus on experimental development instead is associated with academic start-ups, and an applied focus with employment in consulting. Recommendations for research training are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper aims at explaining why large-scale energy-intensive industries-here the German iron and steel industry-had a period of slow uptake of major energy-efficient technologies from the mid 1990s to mid 2000s (Arens and Worrell, 2014) and why from the mid 2000s onwards these technologies are increasingly implemented again. We analyze the underlying factors and investment/innovation behavior of individual firms in the German iron and steel industry to better understand barriers and drivers for technological change. The paper gives insights on the decision-making process on energy efficiency in firms and helps to understand how policy affects decision-making. We use a mixed method approach. First, we analyze the diffusion of three energy-efficient technologies (EET) for primary steelmaking from their introduction until today (top-pressure recovery turbine (TRT), basic oxygen furnace gas recovery (BOFGR), and pulverized coal injection (PCI)). We derive the uptake of these technologies both at the national level and at the level of the individual firm. Second, we analyze the impact of drivers and barriers on the decision-making process of individual firms whether or not they want to implement these technologies. Economics and access to capital are the foremost barriers to the uptake of an EET. If the expected payback period exceeds a certain value or if the company lacks capital, investments in EET seem not to happen. But even if an EET is economically viable and the company has access to capital, investments in EET might not be realized. Policy-induced prices might have strengthened the recent diffusion of TRT. We found indications that in a limited number of cases, policy intervention was a driving factor. Technical risks and imperfect information are only marginal factors in our cases. Site-specific factors seem to be important, as site-specific factors shape the economics of the selected EET. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article takes an historical perspective on current attempts to ‘open up’ established, centralized systems of urban infrastructure to alternative technologies designed to minimize resource use and environmental pollution. The process of introducing alternative technologies into, or alongside, centralized urban infrastructures is not a novel phenomenon, as is often assumed. The physical and institutional entrenchment of large technical systems for urban energy, water or sanitation services in industrialized countries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries did not close the door completely on alternatives. I investigate a number of alternative technologies used in Berlin in the interwar period (1920–1939), in order to reveal the rationales developed around each technology and the ways in which each emerged, disappeared and re-emerged or survived across highly diverse political regimes. The selection of cases is guided by the desire to illustrate three different phenomena of alternative technology diffusion (and exclusion) experienced in Berlin: (1) technologies promoted by early pioneers and discarded by their successors (waste-to-energy), (2) technologies modifying traditional practices that were at odds with modernized systems (wastewater reuse for agriculture) and (3) technologies co-existing alongside the dominant centralized system throughout the 20th century (cogeneration). The empirical findings are interpreted with reference to their contribution to scholarship on urban socio-technical transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the Global North is historically responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs) are expected to overtake developed country emissions in the coming years. At the same time, NICs are climbing the ladder of the global economy, increasing their competitiveness on the global stage and catching up with technological competencies of developed economies. Against this background, this paper explores innovation and collaboration in Climate Change Mitigation Technologies (CCMTs) in NICs. The research question is whether the propensity to innovate and diffuse CCMTs is impacted by technological collaboration with two highly developed countries, Germany and The United States. The sample of NICs includes the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) plus Israel, Mexico, and Turkey, in a panel from 1995 to 2015. The empirical results suggest that collaboration with both Germany and the U.S. is highly significant for domestic CCMT innovation in NICs. These findings are important because, stepping beyond the literature on the merits and drawbacks of global climate governance tools such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and related UNFCCC processes, they show that collaboration for climate and environmental technologies could become a key tool to significantly improve the chances to stay in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. Finally, the policy advice for NICs and developing countries is to, above all else, focus on incubating strong technological innovation systems, including strengthening domestic Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), as well as to enhance technological collaboration with developed countries. • We present a time-series panel from 1995 to 2015. • This research explores Climate Mitigation Technologies (CCMTs) in Newly Industrializing Countries. • Technological collaboration with Germany and the U.S. drives NICs CCMT innovation. • Novel empirical models capture the role of absorptive capacities and domestic innovation systems. • A machine-learning governance index is used as a reliable proxy for governance quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey and Germany are two countries which have well advanced relations in the fields of politics, economy, military, education and science for many years. These relations contribute to both sides in different aspects. However, when two countries are compared with each other, Germany transfers massive amounts of science and especially technology to Turkey. The present study deals with the transferring scientific experience from Germany to Turkey within the framework of universities, especially focusing on the Turkish-German University. Following a brief history of Turkish-German relations, the importance of the republican period as well as Turkish-German universities regarding the relations between both countries will be analysed through expert opinions and empirical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multinational companies (MNC) face a constant tension between a regional orientation which entails regional embeddedness and their world-spanning activities. The relationship between MNCs and their regional surroundings is here analysed at two levels, the institutional level of the ‘fit’ between the regional environment and the MNC's activities, and the project-specific level in which direct, innovation-related interaction between the company and regional players takes place. It can be shown that these two levels may show very different characteristics with regard to one and the same company, and that selective and dynamic forms of regional embeddedness occur. Furthermore, regional embeddedness of innovation projects does not necessarily take place even if the region offers ample possibilities for cooperation and regional links of the MNC at the institutional level may be strong. A thorough understanding of an MNC's relationship to its region is hence dependent upon a process-oriented two-level analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To many, a lot of secrets are at the bottom of the often-cited catchphrase “Smart Grid”. This article gives an overview of the options that information and communication technology (ICT) offers for the restructuring and modernisation of the German power system, in particular with a view towards its development into a Smart Grid and thus tries to reveal these secrets. After a short outline on the development of ICT in terms of technology types and their availability, the further analysis highlights upcoming challenges in all parts of the power value chain and possible solutions for these challenges through the intensified usage of ICT applications. They are examined with regard to their effectiveness and efficiency in the fields of generation, transmission, distribution and supply. Finally, potential obstacles that may defer the introduction of ICT into the power system are shown. The analysis suggests that if certain hurdles are taken, the huge potential of ICT can create additional value in various fields of the whole power value chain. This ranges from increased energy efficiency and the more sophisticated integration of decentralised (renewable) energy plants to a higher security of supply and more efficient organisation of market processes. The results are true for the German power market but can in many areas also be transferred to other industrialised nations with liberalised power markets. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We describe the transfer of patents in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Germany using a new database containing information on 20,000 transactions. The number of transactions shows an upward trend, in total numbers and as a share of patents in force. About 8 percent of patents were transferred at least once during their existence. Many transactions involved the transfer of patents with an above-average quality from individual inventors to firms and to newly created firms. In addition, valuable patents were transferred between firms. About two-thirds of all transfers occurred during the first three years of a patents' existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a set of issues regarding the constitutive role of science and technology in the articulation of Soviet national identity during the cold war period. Particular attention is paid to German scientists who had been captured by the Soviets in the aftermath of World War II and assigned to work on domestic military projects who were then sent back to the German Democratic Republic in the early 1950s. It is suggested that an intersection of cold war imperatives, technological transfer, and national identity manipulated the perception of the German scientist's expertise and value in order to justify their return migration.

We examine the view that the success of emerging technologies may be understood using a technological innovation systems analysis, drawing on a system functions approach. This is done in the context of a case study of the successful diffusion of biomass digestion technology in Germany. We show that that all system functions that are claimed to be important within the innovation systems approach are present in the German Biomass Innovation System; and that these system functions positively interact leading to virtuous cycles and a rapid growth of the German Biomass Digestion Innovation System. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the principal-agent theory, this paper analyses the historical emergence of policies supporting spin-off activities since the end of the Second World War, focusing on Germany as an exemplary case study. It argues that the significance of spin-offs in research policy is not an effect of their hard-and-fast number or their direct economic impacts but rather of their symbolic meaning, providing legitimacy for academic institutions and funding agencies in controversial public debates about science and technological policies. Spin-offs, like technology transfer at large, are important to the rationale and legitimacy of science and research policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern US chemical industry emerged during World War I in response to shortages of essential organic chemicals previously available mainly from Germany. This stimulated the development of technologies based on complex aromatic chemistry. The outcome was an advanced science‐based industry that embarked on diversification during the 1920s. However, access to German innovations was still needed and the Germans wished to regain dye markets lost during the war. This led to a singularly important merging of American and German interests, the General Aniline Works, later known as General Aniline & Film. Under German ownership in the 1930s, a unique strategy for control of production and research was implemented at General Aniline. Under US government ownership from 1942, General Aniline engaged in diversification based on pre‐war German innovations. The cessation of dyestuff manufacture in the 1970s at what had become the GAF Corporation represented a break with the past that was also taking place elsewhere in the USA. A half a century after its foundation the classical organic chemical industry had become an anachronism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using patent data from the United States, Japan, and Germany, this paper examines both innovation and diffusion of air pollution control equipment. Whereas the United States was an early adopter of stringent sulfur dioxide (SO2) standards, both Japan and Germany introduced stringent nitrogen dioxide (NO X ) standards much earlier than the US. Nonetheless, in both cases, tightened standards in the US led to more domestic patenting, but not more foreign patenting. Overall, the data suggest that inventors respond to environmental regulatory pressure in their own country, but not to foreign environmental regulations. Moreover, any technology transfer that occurs appears to be indirect. Domestic innovation occurs even for technologies that have already experienced significant innovative activity abroad and utilities purchase pollution abatement equipment from domestic firms. However, patent citation data from the US do show that earlier foreign patents are an important building block for NO X pollution control innovations in the US. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) have been in the fourth wave of the low emission vehicle development since 2006. Moreover, the BEV technology diffusion is beyond national boundaries due to the changes in the innovation mode and product characteristics. The paper adopts priority patent applications and international patent families to map the BEV transnational technology diffusion from the perspective of global technology innovation (GTI). Our study finds the sources and recipients of BEV technology are concentrated in a few countries or regions, while the transnational technology diffusion is uneven, especially in the core group. The key drivers of technology diffusion are the innovation capacity of countries and the scale of countries' market demand for BEV technology. Our findings enrich the literature on transnational technology diffusion and help policy-makers or company managers better understanding of why some countries may achieve success while others made little progress in the similar context of promoting BEV development. • Mapping the technology diffusion of battery electric vehicles by using patent data. • The transnational technology diffusion of battery electric vehicles is uneven. • The technology sources and recipients of battery electric vehicles are concentrated. • The market proximity between the U.S. and China is closer, so does Germany and China. • Innovation capacity and market scale are key drivers of technology diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the role of technology centers and science parks or research parks in the technology transfer process between the research and education sector to small businesses in Germany. Survey by the Institute for Applied Innovation Research; Information transfer; Innovation problems and processes; Technology transfer.

• Scenario-based simulations with EnergyPLAN based on Choice Awareness Theory. • Evaluation of recent coal power phase-out plans on annual and hourly bases. • Decarbonising effects of the coal phase-out and electrolytic hydrogen production. • Analysing the coherence of phase-out policies and low carbon technology diffusion. We analyse whether Germany will fall short of the country's decarbonisation targets. Bearing this potential failure in mind, the present study investigates technological options and their effectiveness for decarbonising the energy system from a systemic perspective. We consider the country's coal phase-out, the increasing amounts of electricity from renewable energy sources, more efficient heating concepts as well as the evolving of smart charging infrastructures and large-scale storage options. Based on the declared plans of the federal authorities and alternative proposals of environmental associations, ten distinct decarbonisation scenarios for the period from 2020 to 2030 form the basis of our models. Using the Energy PLAN simulation tool, annual and hourly performance indicators were computed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of decarbonisation measures. In particular, we examine the increasing usage of electrolysers for both the absorption of excess electricity and the production of hydrogen as a substitute for fossil fuels in relation to the timing of the coal phase-out. Pursuing this approach, we demonstrate the coherence between coal phase-out policies and low carbon technology diffusion. Our findings reveal that implementing the coal phase-out earlier than has been scheduled by the country's Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment mitigates the non-achievement of the decarbonisation targets. Moreover, our results suggest the upscaling of domestic electrolyser capacity to up to 9554 MW by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Assessment of responsiveness' role in mechanisms for adjusting economic incentives. • Agent-based model of feed-in tariff for solar adoption in Germany, Spain, Switzerland. • More responsive designs meet deployment policy goal accurately and lower uncertainty. • Surprisingly, results show diminishing returns of responsiveness that add policy cost. • Country-specific attributes shown to influence solar power diffusion patterns. A rapid, global diffusion of clean energy technologies is central to the efforts to curb global carbon dioxide emissions. Deployment policies based on economic incentives have proved effective in accelerating the uptake of renewable technologies, such as solar photovoltaics, and could quicken the adoption of others. However, their outcomes were often uncertain and costly as many countries struggled to adjust incentives while technology prices fell rapidly. This study addresses this challenge by investigating the role of responsiveness – the policy's ability to react to changes in the context in which it operates – in the design of mechanisms for adjusting incentives over time. This paper employs an agent-based model to evaluate quantitatively six policy designs with varying degrees of responsiveness for adjusting a feed-in tariff for solar photovoltaics in three countries – Germany, Spain, and Switzerland – for over a decade. Our first finding confirms that more responsive policy designs tended to produce policies that meet their goals more accurately and certainly. Between the least and the most responsive designs, deviation from policy goals was reduced by 60% and uncertainty was reduced by more than 50%. Our results also suggest that policy responsiveness could have diminishing returns: improvements in the policy's accuracy and certainty tended to become smaller while policy costs per capita tended to become larger as design responsiveness increased. Finally, simulation results show how country-specific attributes influence the diffusion pattern of the technology. These findings have major implications for the design of future deployment policies supporting the diffusion of clean energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a competition launched by federal research manager Jurgen Ruttgers in 17 regions of Germany to see which of the regions has the best potential for technology transfer. Rules requiring a demonstration of bringing biotechnological advances to market with minimum bureaucracy; The prize being the right for three winners to share project money made available for such efforts.