An Empirical Analysis of Institutional Barriers to European Hydrogen RD&D Cooperation

Abstract

This paper applies and elaborates environmental and evolutionary theorising in the context of international research, development and demonstration (RD&D) cooperation. The theoretical framework of analysis lays particular emphasis on identifying and overcoming institutional barriers to international cooperation for the RD&D that contributes to radical and environmentally friendly systemic changes, particularly hydrogen technology. The paper can be characterised as empirically based theory-building, as it elaborates the conceptual framework and attests its validity with interview findings and empirically based literature reviews. The empirical analysis is based on the results of HY-CO Era-Net interviews with government officers of national funding agencies responsible for the coordination of ERA-Net programmes.

Keywords: evolutionary economics, hydrogen, innovation policy, institutions, path dependence, technology lock-in