UVA Darden Releases Policy Playbook Identifying Six Actions to Catalyze Clean-Tech Innovation

Moving the needle on climate change will require substantive and disruptive innovation across multiple industry sectors. Public and private investment focused on a few key areas could have a significant impact, according to a new policy playbook released by the University of Virginia Darden School of Business’ Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation on 8 June .

The new policy playbook identifies six actions that, if deployed, could speed the rate of clean-technology innovation in the United States. Recommendations presented in the playbook are the result of discussions held during the 2018 Jefferson Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C., where 50 delegates drawn from a variety of fields in the public and private sector brainstormed ideas for charging the country’s innovation engine.

“The playbook suggests fresh and innovative ideas for influencing change,” said Darden Professor Mike Lenox. “Recognizing that federal leadership on clean energy technology is unlikely in the current environment, the six actions identified take a bottom-up approach to stakeholder engagement.”

One of those actions is the launch of a national “moonshot” on clean technology. Climate change poses one of the most significant challenges faced by society and a challenge of this magnitude needs ambitious goals backed by extensive scientific research and significant investment on a global scale — similar to putting a man on the moon. Today, that moonshot investment will likely have to come from outside the federal government, and will require leadership from a consortium of private companies, state and city governments, universities and nonprofits.

The six actions are complementary in their implementation and supportive of a shared mission to innovate the technologies and industries of the future that address climate change and drive economic development.

• Launch a national moonshot on clean technology

• Create a national clean-tech bank

• Establish early stage investment programs for underserved regions

• Build the utility of the future

• Declare a “New Deal” for clean technology

• Educate the public on clean technology

In publishing the policy playbook, the Batten Institute hopes to encourage the delegates and others in the public and private sectors to create and support initiatives that put the proposed ideas into action.

The playbook was released as part of the Batten Institute’s Business Innovation and Climate Change Initiative. Through this initiative, the Batten Institute has also published reports and podcasts on current and future decarbonization in key industry sectors, including transportation, energy and industrials.

View the full policy playbook on the Business Innovation and Climate Change website.