Going green: the dynamics of green technological alliances

This paper investigates the impact of strategic technological alliances and environmental regulation, and their interaction, on the generation of green technologies. The empirical analysis is carried out on a newly constructed dataset of European firms over the period 2005–2011 and it is articulated in two steps. Firstly, we test the existence of a relationship between the environmental regulation, as measured by the OECD Environmental Policy Stringency index, and GTs, proxied by patent applications. We then employ a dynamic network analysis model to explore the dual role of GTs both as the determinant of the collaboration network and as the outcome of firms' collaboration strategies. We find that, even though there exists a strong and positive relationship, the regulatory framework has not a direct effect on GTs but rather it stimulates firms to search for new and qualified collaborations. Then, it is the nature and the structure of these collaborations that encourages firms to generate new green technological knowledge.