Development of Industries in the Cleantech Sector - A Case of the Solar and Fuel Cell Industries

Abstract

This paper presents in a condensed view the role of finance, innovation, and policy for the development of cleantech industries: It explains the historical development of the solar energy and fuel cell industries and depicts the peculiarities of green growth. A quantitative content analysis of press articles from American newspapers is used to analyze the changing importance of different topics during the period from 1995 to 2013. An approach to compare the importance of the different actors, finance, innovation, and policy has been recognized as missing in the literature. This paper adds not only to the theoretical research gap, but it also a new methodological approach within industry development literature. Finance as a key barrier to green growth is shown to be of high importance even before investment readiness. Innovation themes are discovered to be of higher importance than entrepreneurial themes during the earlier phases of industry development. Additionally, the solar energy industry is under higher regulatory influence compared to the fuel cell industry.