Technological innovation system analysis in a follower country – The case of offshore wind in Poland

Abstract

We assess the offshore wind innovation system in Poland using the Technological Innovation System (TIS) approach. This procedure has been widely used to describe the offshore wind innovation systems in Europe. However, the literature concerned European countries located at the technological frontier, while we examine this issue in a follower country, which is still waiting to deploy first offshore wind installation. The upcoming transition of energy system makes Poland a promising market for renewable technologies, and the geographical location places Poland as the main actor in kick-starting the offshore wind market on the Baltic Sea. However, in our study we identify a number of challenges for offshore wind technology deployment in Poland. Some of them include unpredictable public policies, limited grid infrastructure, rather poor quality of research and weak interactions between science and business. To address these issues, we propose a set of policy instruments. We also outline two main observations resulting from the TIS analysis applied to a follower country. First, the formulation of an appropriate policy decision is a precondition for the adoption of a new technology in a follower country, especially in sectors such as the energy sector. Second, due to the importance of imitation, we identify the relationship between entrepreneurial experimentation and knowledge exchange across geographical borders as critical for the innovation system’s performance in a follower country.