Accelerating low carbon energy innovation in the UK - A conceptual model of the UK low carbon energy innovation system

Abstract:

Meeting the challenge of delivering safe, secure and affordable energy combined with substantial reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases will require significant innovation in new, low carbon technologies over the coming decades. Innovation will be required in the way our energy is generated and delivered and the way in which it is used in our homes, transport systems, industries and places of work.

Key Headlines:

• The UK needs innovation to meet its carbon targets and for this process to beeffective and rapid – with several critical components:market confidence, finance,public policy and thecapability to innovate
• Collaboration and shared understanding is required – involving interactions across science, business and government to facilitate knowledge transfer and learning – it is easier to achieve a transition with a shared understanding of the drivers of new low carbon energy technologies
• The slower the pace of energy innovation, the less time the UK will have to transition to a low carbon economy and the more expensive it will be to do so
• Successful innovation systems often involve open and iterative processes, which are complex. They depend on multiple interactions between different actors
• Policy interventions are required to drive innovation in energy and low carbon – business needs certainty so policy stability matters
• Industry and government should work together to set strategic priorities – low carbon markets are almost entirely driven by public policy but delivered by private sector firms
• Successful innovation in low carbon energy requires new technology capabilities, new markets, new business models together with appropriate changes to the regulatory framework

Publication Year:

2015

Publisher:

ETI

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5286/UKERC.EDC.000178

Author(s):

Colechin, M., Warwick, K. and Titley, B.