Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Danish Wind Energy Innovation, Kyle S. Herman

Dr. Kyle S. Herman

This article compares the exceptional Danish wind energy innovation system with the system employed by the US government. The underlying assumption about innovation systems in the US is that they are technologically driven, and past technological advances can be built upon leading to break-through innovations. However in Denmark, innovation was driven from citizens and relied on no break-through technologies, but rather a piecemeal process of collective, smaller innovations. For wind energy, this process was far more successful than the technologically driven innovation system in the US.