Catch-Up in Solar PV Industry of China: A Perspective of Industrial Innovation Ecosystem

This study explores how China’s solar photovoltaic (PV) industry can catch up so rapidly without radical technological innovation. Through the grounded theory method, we found it was the industrial innovation ecosystem construction and industrial innovation ecological relationship maintenance that made China’s solar PV industry gain competitive advantages. From the perspective of the industrial innovation ecosystem, clustering and colocation provided a foundation for industrial innovation ecosystem construction. China’s solar PV enterprises maintain the ecological relationship among the actors of the industrial innovation ecosystem through several ecological strategies, including resource orchestration and co-opetition. Hub firms played an important role in overcoming the liability of newness and putting forward the vision of shared fate in the early stage of industry development. Local governments and industry associations provided institutional support, coordination, and intermediary to enterprises.