Fostering wind in foreign waters

In a rapidly expanding offshore wind market, governments are evaluating their role in the support of the export of their domestic companies. This paper looks at what roles governments utilize in the export domain. Four governmental roles are identified and their prevalence is rated in different stages of the export process. A framework of these is applied to the Dutch offshore wind sector by performing a case study. The study finds that the prevalence of governmental roles varies in different stages of the export process. Prevalence of governmental roles in earlier stages of the export process seems more technology-specific, while prevalence in the later stages of the export process seems generalizable to most export processes. The prevalence of governmental roles should be adjusted to the nature of to-be-exported technology for an effective support of the sector’s ability to export its goods and services.