A framework and methodology for analyzing technology spillover processes with an application in solar photovoltaics

Technology spillovers, understood as knowledge flows across technology domains, are an important mechanism for innovation, as progress in one technology area can lead to unexpected benefits in other technology areas. Despite the importance of technology spillovers in theories of recombinant innovation, significant gaps remain in our understanding of how spillovers across knowledge domains occur, what factors enable or affect spillovers, or how much consideration should be given to technology spillovers in research and innovation policy and management. In this paper, we develop and demonstrate novel conceptual and methodological tools to address these knowledge gaps. Specifically, we introduce a conceptual framework that views technology spillovers as a dynamic process of micro-level knowledge transfer across technological domains that drives recombinant innovation in a knowledge-receiving domain. We use this framework to develop a process-tracing methodology for identifying and analyzing individual micro-level technology spillovers. We demonstrate the application of our framework and methodology in a case of three important innovations in crystalline silicon solar photovoltaics by reconstructing a detailed history of how technology spillovers have played a critical role in enabling and driving these three innovations over time. We show how our approach generates important insights relevant to public policy and R&D management that aim to harness spillovers for accelerating innovation.