TY - JOUR

T1 - State-Led Innovation at the City Level

T2 - Policy Measures to Promote New Energy Vehicles in Shenzhen, China

AU - Lauer, Johannes

AU - Liefner, Ingo

N1 - Funding information: MUNICIPAL-LEVEL INNOVATION POLICY AND PLANNING MEASURES SUPPORTING NEVS IN SHENZHEN The measures undertaken at the municipal level to support the transition towards NEV have been explained in several guidelines and policy documents with different scopes, aims, and periods.2 In 2009, several municipal-level policies and subsidies such as the “Shenzhen Energy-Saving and NEV Demonstration Program (2009–2012)” and the “Shenzhen Private Purchase NEV Pilot Subsidy Plan” had already been introduced, providing 5.6 billion Yuan RMB funding (SZLGO 2015). The guiding concept for further NEV development in Shenzhen, however, is labeled “The Notification of Several Policies and Measures of New Energy Vehicles’ Promotion and Application.” This concept has been prepared by the Shenzhen Leading Group Office of Promotion and Application of New Energy Vehicles at the Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission, in cooperation with the Shenzhen Science, Technology and Innovation Commission, the Shenzhen Finance Commission, and the Shenzhen Transport Commission. The concept is based on the national “Instruction about Accelerating NEV Demonstration and Application” and the national “Development Plan of Energy-Saving and NEV Industry (2012–2020),” which were both issued by the state council. The concept is financed through the Shenzhen Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicle Demonstration Promotion and Support Fund (2013-2015) endowed with 5 billion Yuan RMB (Shenzhen Municipal Government 2015). The funding is provided by the Shenzhen municipal government. *This article reports findings from the research project “Sino-German Electromobility Research (SINGER)”, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) under funding number 03EM0204B. The authors wish to thank Stephan Pohl, Hannover, for cartography and artwork, as well as three anonymous reviewers and the editor for providing comments and suggestions that helped to improve the paper.

PY - 2019/11/5

Y1 - 2019/11/5

N2 - Unlike many Western countries, the Chinese state has a much more active role in innovation that includes direct involvement with actors in innovation processes and the use of state capacity, money, and power to attain certain goals. With the rise of China, innovation processes that critically depend on state action, often labeled state-led innovation, have thus received growing scholarly attention. However, only few contributions study the specific sector of new energy vehicles (NEV) and policy measures applied at the city level. This paper examines policy and planning tools used in Shenzhen, China, to assert innovation in the NEV industry, using an evaluation of documents and interviews. The paper finds that a city can play a decisive role in the implementation of innovation policy, and Chinese cities in particular make use of a broad set of innovation support measures ranging from binding quotas, public procurement, and incentives to bans and orders. The findings underline the importance of strong regulatory instruments that do not conform to the Western notion of market-compliant policy, but nevertheless work effectively in the Chinese context. Moreover, the results highlight how successful policy support for innovation in the NEV can be implemented.

AB - Unlike many Western countries, the Chinese state has a much more active role in innovation that includes direct involvement with actors in innovation processes and the use of state capacity, money, and power to attain certain goals. With the rise of China, innovation processes that critically depend on state action, often labeled state-led innovation, have thus received growing scholarly attention. However, only few contributions study the specific sector of new energy vehicles (NEV) and policy measures applied at the city level. This paper examines policy and planning tools used in Shenzhen, China, to assert innovation in the NEV industry, using an evaluation of documents and interviews. The paper finds that a city can play a decisive role in the implementation of innovation policy, and Chinese cities in particular make use of a broad set of innovation support measures ranging from binding quotas, public procurement, and incentives to bans and orders. The findings underline the importance of strong regulatory instruments that do not conform to the Western notion of market-compliant policy, but nevertheless work effectively in the Chinese context. Moreover, the results highlight how successful policy support for innovation in the NEV can be implemented.

KW - innovation

KW - innovation policy

KW - new energy vehicles

KW - planning

KW - Shenzhen

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059528163&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/gere.12320

DO - 10.1111/gere.12320

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85059528163

VL - 109

SP - 436

EP - 456

JO - Geographical review

JF - Geographical review

SN - 0016-7428

IS - 3

ER -