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TCI Climate Change - Climate Innovation initiative

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This initiative was launched in a session on Climate Innovation at TCI Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, October 2008. An international team was formed with TCI representatives from China, India, Australia, Kenya, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, USA, Dominican Republic, Canada, and they have been working hard from the time they came together in Cape Town to the present moment.

Project objective is to create a viable "Climate Innovation, Competitiveness and Sustainability" initiative with a primary focus on alternative energy sources and technologies. The initiative proposes to use TCI knowledge, experience, competencies, successes in competitiveness, business clusters, innovation systems, triple helix, enterprise growth, business strategy and marketing, economic development / partnering / sharing / capacity building for business opportunities for developed and developing nations, in order to bring alternative energy sources and technologies to market rapidly across all economic sectors and all nations. For members of TCI, this initiative can become a massive economic and technological multiplier and accelerator globally.


The Project
The TCI Climate Change - Climate Innovation initiative's function is to provide information to members and member organizations on the impacts of climate change and the ways that organizations and communities (particularly in less developed economies) can combat climate change (through case studies of low hanging fruit) and emphasizing the opportunities (modifications to present industries, creation of new industries and new green jobs) that arise from a low carbon economy.


Objectives
To have a better informed TCI membership on both Climate Change impacts, and Climate Innovation opportunities, so that they can educate their clusters, develop industries and influence government policy.

 

The Team
The team members at present include: Philippe Roy (Canada), Walter Freundenthaler (Austria), Amit Kapoor (India), Dolores Vicioso, Jaime Moreno (Dominican Republic), Xiulin Gu, HX Duan (China), Kavore Kariuki (Kenya), Jan Sandred, Lars Eklund (Sweden), Bob Breault (USA) and Richard Walker (Australia).

All TCI members are welcome to become members of the team, particularly from countries not represented on the team, and to make contributions. The team wants to obtain case studies of Climate Change - Climate Innovation, both on the impact of Climate Change in their area and on the Climate Innovation opportunities arising in moving towards a Post Carbon Economy. These case studies will also help other TCI members.

 

INTRODUCTION: Climate Change - Climate Innovation, Threat and Opportunity


Threat

Climate Change is a tangible geometric progression of three waves, primary, secondary, tertiary, of global temperature increases, and related weather systems and environmental phenomena, driven by ever increasing CO2 in the lower atmosphere caused by human beings, giving rise to the term Anthropogenic Climate Change. Climate Change shows up as increasing global temperature warming, from 1.7C to 5-10C projected, change to global climate systems, erratic violent weather storms, melting of polar ice caps, ocean rising, droughts, forest fires, crop failures, famine, spread of tropical diseases. This has been caused by significant increases in CO2 and Greenhouse Gases in the lower atmosphere, arising from ever increasing use of carbon-based fossil fuels, with CO2 rising from 285 ppm to 400 ppm, well past the safe upper limit of 350 ppm. The underlying causes are population increase from 700 million in 1750 to 6.7 billion in 2005, rampant resource extraction, industrialization, manufacturing, urbanization, consumption, buildings of all types, transportation of all types, agriculture and food supply, all fuelled by carbon.

The 2007 United Nations International Panel on Climate Change Report said the world would suffer "catastrophic consequences" if it did not address Climate Change strategically and urgently. The time line for strategic and urgent Climate Innovation action is now very short, just ten years, to save the Earth from further CO2 and GHG increases, acceleration of Climate Change by the five major positive feedback mechanisms, and taking the world irretrievably beyond the Point of No Return (PNR).

Find out more information on the impact of Climate Change


Opportunities

Climate Innovation, that is the rapid innovation and market deployment of multiple alternative clean renewable energy sources and technologies, to help get the world rapidly off carbon-based fossil fuels, offers tremendous business opportunities. This follows the transformation principles articulated by economist Joseph Schumpeter, who spoke about creative destructionism, radical innovation, disruptive technologies, entrepreneurship, and many new enterprises, jobs, prosperity. Giacomo Becattini added the use of business clusters to rapidly accelerate economic and social transformation. Stuart Rosenfled applied both business clusters and business networks for economic transformation. Laurence Hewick developed and applied third generation business incubators to grow advanced technology SMEs.

TCI members globally have experience and knowledge of all of the above and can apply it very easily in support of Climate Innovation. This massive scale of global innovation would generate the Next Industrial Revolution, the Clean Revolution, and would lead to the Post Carbon Economy.

See reference materials on the Opportunities in a Post Carbon Economy

See papers given by team members Walter Freudenthaler, Richard Walker and Philippe Roy at TCI Annual Global Conferences.

 

LIST OF POSSIBLE SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP TOPICS

The purpose of special interest group topics is to identify important subject matter which TCI members in 60 countries world wide should know more about if they wish to move forward and deal with opportunities in their own countries or between several countries in Climate Change - Climate Innovation.

  1. Document Knowledge, Concepts, Vocabulary For Climate Change - Climate Innovation.
    Knowledge, concepts, vocabulary are all fundamental to identifying and defining issues, articulating responses, developing solution-oriented policy frameworks and business models.
  2. Identify Low Hanging Fruit, Easy To Implement Climate Innovation.
    Low hanging fruit, easy wins, are essential to creating leadership and momentum in implementing climate innovation.
  3. Identify New Alternative Clean Renewable Energies, Technologies, Strategies (there are about 20 so far, and more developing).
    The collective intelligence, resources, science, technology, ingenuity, innovation, entrepreneurship, must be brought to bear on energy, environment, economics, civilization in a very highly focused, internationally collaborative, and short time frame.
  4. Identify, Document, Share, Success Stories, Best Practices, Business Case Analysis.
    Success stories, best practices, business cases are absolutely essential to facilitate rapid deployment of climate Innovation.
  5. Create True Advanced Clean Technology Clusters; No Imitators or Partial Models.
    REAL advanced clean technology clusters are the unique DNA of the rapid transformation to the clean revolution, the post carbon economy.
  6. Leverage Advanced Clean Technology Clusters with Regular Clusters and Non-Clustered Economic Sectors.
    The great polyvalent capacity of REAL advanced clean technology clusters must become focused and leveraged to great advantage to multiply climate innovation opportunities and to accelerate the clean revolution and transition to the post carbon economy.
  7. Leverage Advanced Clean Technology Clusters with Cities, Focusing on Clean Electricity Generation, Buildings, Transportation, Food Supply.
    REAL advanced clean technology clusters can multiply and accelerate climate innovation in cities.
  8. Create New Policy Frameworks, Business Models, Market Strategy, How to Move to the Post Carbon Economy.
    Focus nationally and globally on policy and strategy to drive climate innovation, the clean revolution, the post carbon economy, and sustainability of civilization in the long term.
  9. Linked Issues, e.g., Water Supply, Food Supply.
    Civilization cannot survive without water and food daily.
  10. Policies and Strategies to Support Developing Nations.
    Developing nations have five core needs to adequately address climate change: Financial Transfers, Carbon Credits, Professional Competence, Technology Transfers, Capacity Building.
  11. Create Longer Term Sustainability, Know the Issues That Must be Addressed.
    The world can survive climate change with climate innovation, but this is only efficiency. The world must also totally re-orient itself, live a different economic life globally that embodies the requirements of effectiveness and sustainability.
  12. Need For Multi-Disciplinary Analysis and Solutions in a Rapidly Evolving Era of Complexity Factors, Potential Chaos and Cataclysmic Consequences.
    The complexity of climate change, the challenge of climate innovation, the urgency of change, issues of efficiency of energy use AND effectiveness and sustainability, absolutely require a multi-disciplinary approach, and global collaboration.

 

Find out more about the possible special interest group topics

 

 

WORK UNDERTAKEN BY THE GROUP SINCE ITS INCEPTION

Following the launch of the TCI Climate Change - Climate Innovation initiative at the 11th TCI Annual Global Conference 2008, Cape Town, South Africa, members of the team met at the 12th TCI Annual Global Conference 2009 to discuss possible subject matters that could be explored.

The possible topics that were discussed to be explored by the team included:

  • Identify low hanging fruit for quick action
  • Create a TCI Clean Book modelled on the successful TCI Green book
  • Treat Climate Change - Climate Innovation both as a Threat and an Opportunity
  • How to apply TCI Principles of Competitiveness and Clusters in dealing with Climate Change - Climate Innovation.

During 2008-2009, team members did research, wrote papers on the four themes, and prepared presentations to present as a team at the 12th TCI Annual Global Conference 2009, Jyväskylä, Finland. They continued the discussion by email on this general subject matter. Concurrently, UNEP, OECD and IEDC, launched a number of publications which superseded any the concept of a TCI Clean Book.

Most of the members of the team reassembled in Jyväskylä and participated in Workshop 5 "Clusters in a new World". In meetings during the conference, the team decided to provide information to the TCI community on ways to combat climate change and to emphasise the opportunities for business in a Post Carbon Economy through TCI website.

 


Contact Point

Richard Walker
Economic Development Australia
Email: executive.director@edaustralia.com.au
Ph: +61 2 9528 7864
Mob: +61 419 617 510
Fax: +61 2 9528 9965

 

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