Let’s work together

Government and industry need to work more closely towards developing solutions
DAVID BINNING

As the true scale of energy and environmental challenges becomes clearer, there is a growing realisation of the need for government and industry to work more closely towards developing solutions.
One sturdy bridge between government and industry in the UK, the Technology Strategy Board, has sustainable energy and low carbon as one of its key remits.
Both the board and the Carbon Trust are working with numerous private entities to develop solutions for energy and the environment, focusing particularly on wind and tidal technologies.
A recently formed Public Private Partnership, the Energy Technologies Institute, is focusing on the big players, working with the likes of Shell, BP, E.ON, EDF, Rolls-Royce and Caterpillar, with the aim of producing commercial solutions to energy and environmental problems.
Next January the Technology Strategy Board will run a competition to find the best marine turbine designs in Britain. David Bolt, the board’s director of innovation programmes, said competitions had proved an effective way of connecting innovative Britons with government money to develop their ideas.
A separate competition resulted in the board forming partnerships with the likes of Nissan, Jaguar, Mitsubishi, Lotus, BMW and Peugeot to advance the development of electric cars in the UK.
These activities all fall under the board’s Integrated Delivery Programme, a £200 million investment scheme jointly funded by government and business and designed to accelerate the introduction of low-carbon vehicles on to Britain’s roads.
Oxford Yasa Motors, an Oxford University spin-off, is working to develop ultra-lightweight electric motors for cars. A project of the university’s commercialisation unit Isis Innovation, Yasa recently secured £1.45 million in private equity funding as well as securing £1.89 million from the Technology Strategy Board.
Of course, the financial commitment was contingent on Yasa competing for the money and demonstrating its worthiness, an approach that Bolt said was delivering real results.
“If we give you half the money we need to know what is going to happen bigger or faster — which applications demonstrate through a small business plan.”