A network analysis of global competition in photovoltaic technologies: Evidence from patent data.

Technological factors have significant impacts on the geopolitics of energy transition and climate governance, yet little scholarly attention has been given to international technological competition. This paper constructs a global photovoltaic technological competition network based on patents from 1970 to 2018 to capture the international competitive dynamics at multiple scales. The results reveal a continuous expansion of the global photovoltaic technological competition network. The network has an ideal core-periphery structure, while the competition between peripheral countries has been intensifying. Competition at the regional level is strongly related to Europe due to the high innovation capacity and foreign patenting rate of European countries. The elevating position of East Asia and the rest of the world since 1990 reflects the shifting landscape of global photovoltaic production. The United States and Japan have alternatively dominated the global photovoltaic technological competition, while Germany's influence is declining. Two catching-up players, South Korea and China, have significantly improved their status. The vast majority of developing countries, especially those that rely heavily on fossil fuels, are lagging far behind and exposed to the risk of "carbon lock-in". • A global photovoltaic technological competition network is constructed using complex network theory. • Photovoltaic patenting has formed a pattern of global competition with increasing intensity. • Competition at the regional level is strongly related to Europe. • National competitiveness is geographically uneven and temporally dynamic. • Photovoltaic technological competition may lead to intensifying geopolitical tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]