Innovating for a Low Carbon Economy

The UK government has committed to reduce the country's green house gas (GHG) emissions by 80% by 2050. It is, now, widely acknowledged that this transition to a low carbon economy is unlikely to occur unless radical changes take place on the policy and technology fronts as well as within the organisational structures and how companies see their relationship with the environment. Yet, the presence of various market failures dominate the scene and as a result, many radical low carbon innovations (including photovoltaic systems, offshore wind and carbon capture and storage projects) will not efficiently materialise unless there is a better coordination within the private sector driven by an efficient environmental and innovation policy; as well as significant public support. Academic evidence on the risks and returns of environmental innovations, their drivers and barriers as well as the general understanding on green innovation system dynamics is rather new and patchy; at times failing to produce clear directions for policy makers. Moreover, environmental private sector innovators raise concerns about the lack of clarity in policy signals and the economic challenges of commercialising their innovations.

In order for the UK to meet its commitments to reduce GHG emissions, a clear road map for the transition to a low carbon economy is urgently required. While general directions are outlined in the Low Carbon Strategy (BIS, 2011); a thorough and detailed understanding of the specific needs and challenges in UK's environmental innovation system is much required to address effectively the pollution reduction targets. Through this seminar series, we aim to facilitate communication between three important stakeholders; private sector, policy makers from UK and EU, and academics from the economics, management, social marketing as well as engineering and physics disciplines. The main goal is to enable discussions about potential problems and solutions to GHG reduction, by facilitating a platform for exchange of information which can, then, be fed into a detailed road map for UK's low carbon economy in the form of concrete suggestions.

The proposed seminar series consists of six seminars. The first two seminars concentrate on the technological and organisational environmental innovations in order to explore the characteristics of UK's environmental innovations while the following two seminars focus on the central role of government policies and the public's consumption attitudes toward environmental matters. In the final two seminars, we respectively investigate the role and characteristics of the environmental sector's SME section in driving the UK's clean technology innovations and the financing needs of the environmental sector. The seminars and their time frame are as follows:
1. Technological innovations for transitioning to a low carbon economy (December 2013)
2. Organisational innovations for transitioning to a low carbon economy (March 2014)
3. The green revolution and entrepreneurial state (July 2014)
4. Driving consumer demand for green products and services (September 2014)
5. Supporting SMEs in transitioning to a low carbon economy (December 2014)
6. Financing environmental innovations (July 2015)

It is aimed that the network created through the organisation of this seminar series will be the basis for a strong network and community that will generate future research projects stemming from these outlined topics. Such a network is crucial for pushing the boundaries of research in this field and it can channel academic research to support policy decisions and company actions.

The UK is at a crossroads facing crucial decisions in its industry, environment and innovation policies to secure a future with economic growth that is environmentally sustainable. Ground breaking environmental innovations that replace polluting technologies will be necessary alongside significant shifts to consumption patterns and how companies view their relationship with the environment. However, pressures for immediate economic recovery and growth are currently blurring the urgency of actions the UK needs to take for a low carbon future. In this seminar series, our impact targets will be achieved through facilitating the dialogue between the following beneficiaries and building a longer lasting community.

BENEFICIARIES: The beneficiaries targeted by this seminar series include (1) academics from economics and management as well as engineering and natural sciences backgrounds (2) practitioners at companies and investment firms and (3) policy makers with a focus on environment and innovation policies. A closer dialogue between these main stakeholders is crucial to all attempts to work out the details of the road map to a low carbon economy outlined by the UK government in its Low Carbon Strategy (BIS, 2011).

MAIN IMPACT TARGETS.
-Knowledge Dissemination and Exchange: By highlighting some of the most central issues related to environmental innovations, the seminar series will facilitate further debate on topical policy issues by taking into account the academic works and practices in companies, and unveil areas for future research. Presence of the three beneficiary groups will be essential for maintaining a balanced perspective on these debates.

-Networking and Community Building: We have designed the seminar series as a platform to initiate lasting professional contacts. Through targeted invitation of keynote speakers and conference attendees as well as planned networking opportunities during and after the seminars, we hope to facilitate useful contacts between the beneficiary groups. We will use the seminar website and a Linkedin group to extend these opportunities beyond the time of the seminar series and eventually turn this group into a network for environmental innovations consisting of individuals with academic, company and policy backgrounds. This network will form the core for future collaborations of similar nature such as annual conferences.

Amongst non-academic stakeholders, we have identified:

1.POLICY MAKERS and NGOs: UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), OFGEM, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Climate and Energy Team ,Carbon Trust, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM) as well as, Eco-innovation Observatory and Green Alliance.

2.ENVIRONMENTAL COMPANIES: UK based Top 100 Global Clean Technology companies (based on Guardian's list) as well as other firms of the environmental/energy sector that the conference organization committee have been working with over the years.

3.REPRESENTATIVES FROM HIGH POLLUTION INDUSTRIES: Companies that operate in high pollution industries face higher pressures to reduce their environmental impact while also having a relatively large potential to make a contribution to the green transformation. We will reach out to members of these industries through our local university contacts and the relevant industry chambers.

DISSEMINATING THE OUTCOMES
Each seminar will be followed up by a 2-page summary report on main outcomes of the day. These will be circulated to stakeholders with a link to seminar podcast recordings. Two widely read trade journals Clean-tech Investor and Resource Magazine have confirmed they will cover all seminars. We also aim to create a journal special issue or edited book of selected academic papers presented in the six seminars.