This research - which is based on a multiple case-study - analyzes the development of the wind turbine industry in the Netherlands and Denmark between 1973 and 2005 and explains the differences between the two from a social context. The main question of this research is: Why did Danish entrepreneurs take the lead in the wind turbine industry and not the Dutch? On the one hand it validates claims that have been made in earlier case studies on the wind turbine industry on the basis of a theoretical framework that explores the interaction between evolutionary and strategic forces within an emerging community. On the other hand it gives an open-minded picture of the development in both countries by using the input of 37 interviews with wind turbine industry experts.