Abstract: The development and diffusion of clean technologies, such as heat pumps, is crucial for mitigating CO2 emissions. Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) provide a framework for understanding the diffusion and development of clean technologies in developed countries. For developing countries, however, researchers suggest an extended version of the TIS framework accounting for their characteristics of developing countries. On the top of this, researchers claim that there is a need for ex

Abstract

Abstract: The development and diffusion of clean technologies, such as heat pumps, is crucial for mitigating CO2 emissions. Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) provide a framework for understanding the diffusion and development of clean technologies in developed countries. For developing countries, however, researchers suggest an extended version of the TIS framework accounting for the characteristics of developing countries. On top of this, researchers claim that there is a need for exploring how established sectors may influence the development and diffusion of clean technologies. Prior research on developing country’s TIS did not emphasize on how the established sector may influence the diffusion and development of technologies in the formative phase. Accordingly, this paper studies how the established sector (HVAC/R industry) influences the diffusion of heat pumps in Turkey. Through desktop research and 28 semi-structured interviews with relevant actors, the analysis examines the influence of the HVAC/R sector on the extended TIS framework for developing countries. The findings of study, shows that special emphasise should be given to creating conditions that create industrial space for the TIS in developing countries since the production activities found to be highly critical for their TISs. Furthermore, it is observed during the formative stage of clean technologies in a developing country, the structural overlaps between sector and focal TIS significantly impact TIS functions. The infrastructure overlap, network overlap and formal institutions positively influence the knowledge development and diffusion and these overlaps ease the path of diversifying from HVAC/R to HP. However, the overlapping actors influence the expectations and activities to legitimize the HPs negatively since there is a lack of commitment and misalignment inside the sector. Thus, this study shows that while the infrastructural overlaps created opportunities for TIS based in developing countries, these positive influences do not lead to market growth or vision to diffuse a clean technology. To address these challenges and diffuse clean technologies in developing countries, this paper shed light on the importance of creating conditions that enable formation of industrial space to capitalize the market demand, even though there is no adequate domestic market size.