Knowing brown and inventing Green? A conversation on award-winning research into the automotive transition

In this interview article, we follow the research journey of Julia Mazzei, Tommaso Rughi, and Maria Enrica Virgilito, authors of ‘Knowing brown and inventing green? Incremental and radical innovative activities in the automotive sector.’ Their study examines how automotive firms move from long-established ‘brown’ technologies to new ‘green’ ones, using evolutionary economics and large patent datasets to show how past knowledge shapes future innovation. The authors distinguish between incremental and radical innovation trajectories, showing how technological continuity and transformation often coexist within firms. Such evidence also question the extent to which ‘brown’ and ‘green’ knowledge can be effectively separated. Firms that have long worked on combustion engines or mechanical components are often better positioned to move into low-emission technologies. This creates a highly diverse landscape of eco-innovation, with companies differing widely in how they combine existing skills with new green technologies. In the interview, the authors discuss their motivations, methods, and key findings, reflecting on how firms’ knowledge bases and diversification shape green innovation. They also highlight the sector’s ongoing restructuring – driven by electrification, shifting value chains, and rising global competition – and the theoretical, managerial, and societal implications of their work.