Universities are cradles of innovation, with many start-ups involved in sustainable energy solutions. The extent in which such solutions reach the market and the kind of risk-related factors young firms encounter, are hardly known and understood. We aim to clarify market introduction and focus on the empirics of firms’ risk-taking behavior related to strategic choices, competences, and interactions with (national) ecosystem conditions. We use a unique dataset of almost 110 university spin-off firms and a small selected sample from this set. A total of 60% of spin-offs are able to reach the market, most of them in the first five years of spin-offs’ lives. Wind energy provides the best chances, as compared to such things as solar photovoltaics (PV) and advanced biomass. In-depth results suggest the high probability of quick market introduction in ‘Innovation Leader’ countries, like Sweden and Denmark, if combined with employing rich collaborative networks. A second set of favorable influences includes a practical mindset and accessing substantial investment capital. In contrast, strong risks tend to be connected to activity in fundamental inventions, highly specialized technology, weakly developed (sub) markets, poorly built networks, and short refunding time of substantial investment. This study provides a unique contribution to understanding the market introduction of sustainable energy solutions and risk-taking in this effort by young high-tech firms, among others, connected to differences between countries.
Municipalities are increasingly involved in energy transition planning. There are, however, doubts about whether municipalities are an adequate organization and scale level for this. In this context, the article aims to picture developments of local young technology firms in bringing energy inventions to market, in particular, how municipalities have provided support to them. Such aim, in the context of energy transition, is new. Derived from study in Nordic countries and The Netherlands, two findings make a valuable contribution to literature. Firstly, a share of almost 40% of young technology firms fails in market introduction, and if reached the market, a 30% is rather late. Barriers stem from high risk-taking, late (no) collaboration, and limiting circumstances in metropolitan cities. Secondly, municipalities’ initiatives appear useful in filling young technology firms’ needs, but the initiatives are fragmented and miss priority. However, partnering in professional start-up organizations tends to improve the situation, indicating that the municipal level is promising in transitional change with regard to new technology. In contrast, driving energy transition through regional cluster building, includes different levels of functional interdependence, territorial scale, networking and governance, causing manifold complexity and uncertainty. Not all (large) municipalities seem able to act in a promising manner, however, much empirical research needs to be done.
This paper pictures several risk-taking strategies of young high-tech firms in bringing energy inventions to market and ways urban policy (municipalities) may provide supporting facilities and help accelerate the energy transition. Derived from a longitudinal study of 100 firms in northwest Europe, two findings contribute to practice. Firstly<em>,</em> a share of almost 40 percent of university spin-off firms fails in the market introduction; if the market introduction is reached, 30 percent is relatively late. This development calls for attention to acceleration and risk-taking concerns. However, risk-taking firm strategies, like targeting radical inventions and new markets, tend to hamper early market introduction. Secondly, urban policy supports filling risk-related needs, particularly in large metropolitan networks. Cities (municipalities) may act as launching customers and provide sites and organizations for practical experimentation (e.g., in living labs) alongside steering on cross-faculty application platforms at the university that also connect with city functions. Cities’ initiatives, however, tend to be fragmented and miss priority. Partnering in Triple Helix networks with local universities and businesses may improve the situation, for example, by priority setting, better alignment, and integration. The urban policy also has a role in improving broader conditions, particularly the attraction of related R&D firms to the city/region and the attraction and retention of top-class researchers.
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