Solar energy technologies and open innovation: A study based on bibliometric and social network analysis

This paper aims to identify the development of solar energy technologies through open innovation. Manuscripts about solar energy and open innovation published between the years 2000 and 2014 in journals indexed by Web of Science Core Collection were used to create a database and terms related to solar energy and open innovation were sought in papers title, summary and keywords. By using words "cooperation" and "collaboration" as a proxy to map open innovation, it was found that this approach exist widely for solar energy researches and most important publications was developed collaboratively. Social network analysis methodology was used to identified clusters of local, national and international partnerships, which prove that researches cooperation to solar energy technological development is true. International cooperation is prevalent in countries like the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain and Germany. National partnership occurs in Japan, United States, France, Italy and South Korea. China has predominant local cooperation profile, but it will be major international collaborative actor in solar energy researches next years. Also, a set of recommendations based on findings was provided to construct a better environment for cooperation and to improve solar energy researches. - Highlights: • Words "cooperation" and "collaboration" as a proxy to map open innovation. • Clusters of local, national and international partnerships were identified by SNA. • International cooperation predominance for European countries and local for China. • National cooperation is priority for the USA and some European countries. • China will be major international collaborative player in solar energy technology next years.