Innovation evolution of industry-university-research cooperation under low-carbon development background: In case of 2 carbon neutrality technologies

Abstract

Offsetting carbon emissions by various means is carbon neutrality. Technological innovation is an important path to carbon neutrality and has been framed in China’s policy planning, such as innovations about cleaner combustion technologies. To understand the current innovation of clean technology in gas boilers, this paper selects 2 Carbon Neutrality Technologies (CNT) identified in China, respectively low nitrogen combustion and catalytic combustion, to obtain relevant patent data of innovative technology. Besides, social network analysis (SNA) and community detection algorithms are used to show the evolution of three stages from 2005 to 2020. On the whole, several enterprises which dominate the network in the innovation cooperation of clean combustion technology in China exist at all stages, and the participation consciousness of scientific research institutions in universities is not strong. Network analysis shows that the network average degree fluctuates (1.172–1.962–1.442) with no obvious changes, and the network becomes sparse gradually. The analysis of the two-mode network shows that B01J refers to the most technical field involved in the cooperation except the first stage. B01D, F23G, and F23D are the key areas of technological innovation in the three stages except for B01J. The current innovations in clean combustion technology are not so much about combustion itself, instead, they focus on general physical and chemical methods. But at Stage2 and Stage3, more attention has begun to shift to burner innovation.