Energising innovation in green manufacturing

Our policymakers must move ahead quickly and aggressively if we, like China, are to unlock public procurement's "power of the purse" to trigger innovation in low-carbon manufacturing

Demand-driven innovation has been a key factor in the success of many industries in the US and Japan, especially in defence R&D programmes, in which well-articulated demand was the key to developing and diffusing technologies. Also, companies are willing to invest, innovate and scale up when the demand is secure and well-directed.
 
In the US, the domestic market for green electronics products took huge strides after the federal government’s executive order on the purchase of greener products in the early 1990s. Similarly, in Europe, public procurement acted as a catalyst in developing a market for organic food and drink,