LAUSR

Abstract This paper, by analysing technology attributes, examines the degree to which companies build on environmental technologies generated by public research organisations (PROs) to develop the related technological solutions. Three main technology attributes have been considered: (i) the level of establishment, (ii) the scope of application, and (iii) the technological breadth. We have then developed three hypotheses about the influence exerted by these characteristics and have chosen the green energy as the field of investigation. The analysis is based on a sample of 4363 green energy patents registered by PROs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in the 1976–2011 period. The results of a set of Tobit regression have revealed that the level of establishment, the scope of application and the technological breadth of public environmental technologies are positively related to the technological development of an industry. Hence, these findings can help advance the current debate on whether the green outputs of public research can stimulate firms to generate environmental technologies.