Commercialization Challenges in Green Tech

Abstract: In recent years, pressures for making society more sustainable have been on a constant increase, and many of the new green technology solutions which will facilitate this change are likely to originate from small high-tech firms. However, young technology-based firms often fail to successfully bring their products to the market – a process known as commercialization. The purpose of this study was to from a managerial perspective contribute to narrowing the gap between practice and academia in the largely unexplored area of commercializing green tech. A qualitative study using an abductive research approach was conducted based on semi-structured interviews carried out at five Swedish green tech companies, followed by an analysis based on grounded theory. From this, four main challenges of green tech commercialization in Sweden were identified, including the reliance of green tech firms on external actors, challenges related to attracting employees and partners, the risk of green tech markets not materializing, and difficulties related to securing financing. Additionally, four underlying themes connected to these challenges were discussed, including issues related to the apparent interrelatedness of green tech markets, the importance of policy support to green tech viability, the importance of investor support, and issues related to gaining trust.