Public Intermediaries as KeyFacilitators of Diffusion : The Case of Renewable Energy in Sweden

Abstract: Diusion of renewable energy technologies(RETs) is an important challengeof the current century. Much of the existing research has put a focus on understandingthe diusion of RETs through the perspective of systems of innovation. However, two recent studies highlight the importance of the actors in the process- those who adopt the RETs. With the current study we continue thisactor perspective by focusing on the adoption process as the driver of the massdiusion. We bring together the two streams of diusion of innovation and innovationintermediaries in a thesis that aims to show how comprehending thesingle adoption process and providing support to the adopters at every singlephase of it can facilitate diusion. Our focus is fully on public intermediaries. We show that public innovationintermediaries known in research for their support for the innovation systemhave an unexplored facet i.e. that of supporters at the adopter level. The thesiscontributes to previous literature showing that public intermediaries are thesupporters of adopters of RETs at the very beginning of the process which wascurrently unexplored. Moreover, we demonstrate that public intermediaries arepresent in the later phases of the adoption process as well being their impartialitya main advantage in comparison to private intermediaries. The study revealstwo key roles of public intermediaries in the pre-adoption phase of the processand four roles in the implementation phase. To complete the research we use qualitative methods and particularly groundedtheory methodology for data collection and analysis. Data is collected throughface-to-face long interviews with six public and/or non-prot intermediaries locatedin the Swedish county, Ostergotland. The study brings about the recognitionof public intermediaries as direct supporters of adopters of RETs in practice,oers ways of rethinking the existing policies in order to speed up diusion ofRETs and expands the arena for further research with focus on the interactionbetween intermediaries and adopters.