Policies supporting the diffusion of technology. The need for a systematic analysis

Diffusion of innovation policies are aimed at spreading specific new technologies throughout the industrial structure of a country, facilitating its ongoing and incremental adaptation to change. Nevertheless, economic literature on technology policies has focused predominantly on policies of generation, underestimating the effects of policy interventions in the diffusion process. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to identify the policies able to support the diffusion of an innovation by analysing the studies that specifically rely on the topic and to provide a theoretical framework that links the policies to support the dissemination of an innovation to the barriers that hinder the diffusion of a new technology among a community of adopters. The framework gives a comprehensive view of diffusion of innovation policy and provides useful suggestions for policy makers.