The countervailing effects of stocks of knowledge on low-carbon innovation through international collaboration

Collaboration plays a crucial role in accelerating low-carbon innovation, which, as an emerging technology, requires knowledge in varied domains from diverse actors across the globe. Whereas previous research has shown that collaboration positively affects low-carbon innovation, the unintended consequence of cumulating stocks of knowledge on low-carbon innovation through international collaboration has been underexplored. To address this issue, we examined the potentially countervailing effect of cumulative stocks of patents on coinvention on low-carbon technology patenting in Korea from 2000 to 2011, employing a count model with panel fixed-effects. The study finds that national and international coinvention have a positive effect on low-carbon technology patenting. The cumulative stocks of knowledge have a negative influence on the development of new low-carbon technology knowledge through such international coinvention. The explicit finding that the cumulative stocks of knowledge can undermine the role of international collaboration on low-carbon innovation has clear policy implications. A country should attempt to diversify its portfolio of low-carbon technology development to fully utilize the role of international collaboration on low-carbon innovation. Furthermore, policy makers should pay keen attention to building and maintaining effective international collaboration to complement a nation's or company's own knowledge base.