The transitions of technological innovation systems in the transnational context: the example of China’s solar photovoltaic industry (1970s–2010s)

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article investigates the trajectory of China’s solar photovoltaic industry through the perspective of technological innovation systems (TISs). Based on the directed content analysis of 20 semi-structured interviews, we find that as each domestic TIS is simultaneously embedded within the national and global arenas, the components of the domestic TISs in terms of actors, networks and institutions are developed in both national and transnational scopes. Although the international linkages between national institutions and transnational networks of governance shape the exogenous environment of actors’ networks on a macro level, national institutions govern the domestic actors and their networks on a meso level. If the domestic TIS’s functions are appropriately guided by institutions on higher levels, novel technologies that sustainably transit the systems would then emerge and rapidly grow on a micro level.