Sustainable Energy Startups, Factors Influencing Fast Market Introduction and Survival of University Spin-offs in Northwest Europe

Abstract

The motivation for this thesis stems from the widespread desire across various policy levels to accelerate the energy transition. While large established companies play a crucial role in this transition, owing to their substantial R&D capacity and their deep integration within socio-technical systems, this thesis focuses on young, agile companies. These emerging companies, have “little to lose”, can bear more risks and are flexible to easily penetrate specialized market niches. This thesis specifically examines innovative start-ups, with a particular emphasis on university spin-off companies.
The thesis investigates the determinants of innovative entrepreneurship and firm survival on the time required for market introduction and the longevity of spin-offs in the sustainable energy sector. The empirical analyses in this thesis draw on an original database of university spin-off companies, tracked retrospectively from 1998 to 2018. The spin-offs are founded in five countries: Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, chosen for their long-standing favourable national innovation systems (NIS), and the Netherlands and Norway, selected for their comparatively less favourable NIS and sustainable energy landscapes during part of the study period.
The data collection employed a mixed-method approach, incorporating face-to-face interviews, which, when possible, were conducted in two moments; first shortly after company formation and second interview was taken several years later. Data gathering was supplemented by telephone interviews and information from written sources such as company websites, university websites, investment consortia reports, and reports by sustainable energy organizations, and multi-level policy bodies. This time-intensive methodology ensures data reliability. The final dataset comprises 106 companies...