Measuring the Science-to-Market Gap: The Case of New Energy Technologies

In the face of global climate change and industrialization, the need for new energy technologies (NET) has become an urgent and evident issue. Yet, the global use of fossil fuels and non-sustainable energy technologies is still very high. For the IEA countries in the year 2001, the share of renewable energy in the total primary energy supply constituted 5.5%, and since 1970, the share of renewable energy in electricity production decreased from 24% to a total of 15%. With the aim of improving our understanding of the factors that affect the commercialization of new energy technologies, this paper investigates the NET science-to-market gap for the European context. By means of a qualitative industry analysis, an overview is given of the different actors including research institutes, technology providers, policy makers, venture capitalists, and utilities. Arguing that science-industry interaction is a key ingredient for bringing NET to the market, we suggest that the science-to-market gap may be rooted in different stakeholder preferences and expectations along key dimensions of the interaction and its context