Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give an answer to the questions whether China can make the quantum leap in automotive technology from engines that burn fossil-fuel to those that do not and whether China will take an “alternative Asian path of development.”...

Based on the principal-agent theory, this paper analyses the historical emergence of policies supporting spin-off activities since the end of the Second World War, focusing on Germany as an exemplary case study. It argues that the significance of spin-offs in research policy is not an effect of...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to give an answer to the questions whether China can make the quantum leap in automotive technology from engines that burn fossil‐fuel to those that do not and whether China will take an “alternative Asian path of development.”...