Sino-German Innovation Networks in the Wind Power and Electric Vehicles Sector

Within the last decade, China has experienced an unprecedented growth in low-carbon technologies. Since 2009, it has been the largest market and producer of wind power and accounts for 35.7 percent of the world’s installed capacity today. Similarly, it has been solidifying its leadership position in electric vehicles (EV) over the past five years, accounting for 55.5 percent of global sales. This green transformation has not only been the result of a series of domestic policies that were boosting market demand and providing financial security for investors. China’s path to green leadership was also considerably paved through strategic networks with other countries. This article reflects on China’s knowledge-sourcing strategies and particularly focuses on Sino-German innovation net-works in the wind and EV sector. We use patent data and deploy new natural-language-processing techniques to measure knowledge networks with regard to technological novelty and impact.