Rainer Quitzow spoke to the staff of ISC Konstanz about the development of the Chinese innovation system for solar photovoltaics, highlighting the key factors which have enabled the rapid catch-up of Chinese solar energy firms. An important message from the analysis was that active central government support has only played a relatively minor role, although this is changing. More important have been local level industrial policy, international knowledge partnerships and the pioneering activities of a small number of private enterprises, which began their engagement in the sector in the period between 1999 to 2001.These findings are part of a research project on the international diffusion of environmental innovations, entitled "Lead Market Strategies: First Mover, Early Follower, Late Follower", funded by Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research.