Summary of the thesis: This dissertation studies innovation and technological learning in the making of China’s offshore wind industry, and is based on 55 semi-structured interviews and a two-month participant observation in a Western company in China. Innovation is viewed broadly, incorporating interactive learning and circulation of knowledge, competencies, experiences and expectations connected with offshore wind technology. The thesis examines the offshore wind industry in order to better understand the ways in which innovation and technological learning happen and can be understood within one branch of China’s renewable energy industries. Using this industry as a case, the thesis may also shed light on innovation processes more generally in the context of China. The thesis attempts to show how innovation and learning are processes are embedded in complex transactions and translations and negotiations of power, pride and culture that transcend the technology – here, offshore wind turbines. The main research questions are therefore: How does China’s offshore wind technology development unfold, and how can this process be understood and conceptualised? In the process of exploring this question, several related questions arise: Who are the central actors that define the way in which the industry develops, how do these different actors influence the development of China’s offshore wind industry, and what role does the European offshore wind experience and knowledge play in this development? The thesis highlights these questions through four papers and an overview and tie-up essay. Paper 1, ‘Fragmentation, Centralisation and Policy Learning: An Example from China’s Wind Industry’ addresses the dynamics of change within China’s energy sector and shows the way in which the Chinese government has mobilised and accommodated the growth of a domestic wind industry. Paper 2, ‘Limits to Interactive Learning: Ensuring Quality in China’s Emerging Offshore Wind Industry’ looks at technological learning and quality considerations in China’s offshore wind industry. Paper 3, ‘Outside the European Box: China Developing Offshore Wind Technology’ examines more in detail how knowledge and experience from Europe influences offshore wind technology development in China, and paper 4, ‘Ambition and Ambiguity: Expectations and Imaginaries Developing Offshore Wind in China’ explores how the future is used as a resource for creating a protected space for offshore wind technology in China. The overview and tie-up essay of the dissertation discusses the advantages and drawbacks of various theoretical approaches to studying innovation and technological learning, and shows how each theory highlights different aspects of innovation in China’s offshore wind industry. The thesis makes four empirical and four theoretical conclusions. The more empirical conclusions are: The Chinese government has a central role in accommodating new ventures and has ambitious goals and high expectations for offshore wind technology development; Chinese institutions are characterised by flexibility, supporting or constraining enterprises that to a varying degree are controlled by the central government; Chinese offshore wind firms are exploring several avenues of interdependent technology development, ranging from licensing, joint-ventures and mergers and acquisitions to own experimentation; Experimentation is found to be an important learning strategy that provides competencies and experiences to Chinese firms, but that involves higher risks. Experimentation is also an important tool for policy learning and policy development …