Media release issued today 6 April 2011 by Professor Richard Hames, President, Australia21.
Australia has a choice – to see climate change as a threat to its industrial base, or to see the value eco-innovation offers - in financial gain, joint ventures, skills development, employment, and research & innovation opportunities.
There are huge openings for Australia to participate in the trillions of dollars being spent in China, the US and India on green technologies over the next few decades.
‘But there still is much work to be done in Australia to support an innovation and entrepreneurial culture capable of taking advantage of these technology opportunities’, says Professor Richard Hames, President, Australia21.
Australia is yet to develop a national approach that would see it become a global leader in resource and energy innovation.
Prof Hames noted that, ‘a major challenge for Australia is the lack of coherence between and within government departments and industry – which impedes the development of the cross-disciplinary approaches required to develop a national eco-innovation strategy’.
Yet, effective strategies for eco-innovation need to include a diversity of portfolios including: environment, science & technology, industry, transport, competition, and energy. Successful policies also require a mix of diverse tools and initiatives, from support for research and development (R&D), to market creation and export promotion.
A new OECD report, Better Policies to Support Eco-Innovation, 2011 has found that: making mature technologies more market-friendly is as important as producing new knowledge; technical and non-technical innovations matter equally; and capturing innovations originating in non-environmental domains opens a large spectrum.
Currently there are few business or deployment models that allow us to take innovations no longer protectable by patents to build entrepreneurial, equity financed ventures to bring green technologies to market. Professor Hames says that ‘what we need is to innovate our business and social structures to bring solutions already here into use’.
One such model is the Global Innovation Commons (GIC) which promises to spur a strong new wave of technological innovation through the sharing of new ideas rather than through exclusive, private control of them.
Professor Hames confirmed that Dr David Martin, founder of the GIC, and a speaker at an upcoming Australia21 conference, will make the point that patents often serve to impede innovative technologies and make them unaffordable—at precisely the time when all countries need to adopt cutting-edge energy technologies to reduce carbon emissions.
An Australia21 conference will explore all these issues and discuss solutions on 14 April 2011 at The Australian National University.
More Information contact:
Prof Richard Hames, President, Australia21, m) 0419 851 523
Dr Lynne Reeder, Executive Director, Australia21, m) 0431 608958
This post written by Richard Eckersley, posted by Paul Barratt
Putting expired patents to work in novel ways – Australia to lead on new innovation models
Ross Garnaut, head of the Garnaut Climate Change Review, recently noted that successful Australian innovation effort will encourage the effective and early use of technologies developed in other countries, as well as the discovery and application in Australia of globally new technologies.
But beyond new technologies, a wider “innovation literacy” view, including use of existing or expired patents, provides for a more comprehensive picture of the drivers of the rate and direction of innovation, and of the impediments that can prevent successful innovation.
Such an approach has been developed by David E. Martin, an intellectual property activist based in the US, who works with many developing countries. David argues that a great many green technologies are already in the public domain and are ready to be developed. They just need to be identified and put to use.
Dr Martin is founder of the Global Innovation Commons (GIC) - a massive interactive archive of energy-saving technologies whose patents have expired, been abandoned, or simply have no protection.
The GIC encourages entrepreneurs and national governments to query the database on a country-by-country basis to identify helpful technologies that are in the public domain. Once identified, these technologies for energy, water, and agriculture are prime candidates for being developed at lower costs than patented technologies.
The World Bank is a partner on this project, along with the International Finance Corporation's infoDev unit. The World Bank has estimated that the technologies in the GIC database could save more than $2 trillion in potential license fees.
The Global Innovation Commons essentially seeks to bring the advantages of the open-source software development model — open participation, faster innovation, greater reliability, cheaper costs — to technologies that are claimed to be patented.
In the Global Innovation Commons, hundreds of thousands of innovations have been assembled, which are either expired, no longer maintained (meaning that the fees to keep the patents in force have lapsed), disallowed, or unprotected in most, if not all, relevant markets.
This means that, as of right now, steps can be taken into a world full of possibilities, not road blocks. Whether it’s clean water for China or Sudan, or carbon-free energy — it’s likely to be in the GIC.
Martin argues that patents often serve to impede innovative technologies and make them unaffordable — at precisely the time when all countries of the world, rich and poor, need to adopt cutting-edge energy technologies to cut carbon emissions.
In touting "open innovation," Martin takes the tradition of free software and digital commons to exciting new frontiers. The Global Innovation Commons promises to spur a strong new wave of technological innovation through the sharing of new ideas rather than through exclusive, private control of them. As Martin puts it, "What we do is trawl documents for their true meaning. But what we care about are basic human issues. In this case, it's to show what belongs to the big guys and what belongs to society."
Which brings us to the real challenge and opportunity offered by climate change – that of the chance for Australia to evolve as a global leader in resource and energy innovation that benefits the whole society and not just a few large corporations. New energy technologies will play a substantial role in both the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change.
The urgency of the adjustment task shouldn’t be underestimated, and the change in incentives derived from carbon pricing can justify a large transitional increase in public support for innovation related to low-emissions technologies.
Fresh thinking, new business models, wiser leadership and continuous strategic innovation, are needed if Australia isto design and enact a low-carbon, steady state economy. The end point is not to undo industry but, on the contrary, to reinvent it as a viable force for sustainable living that comprises efficient practices and zero waste.
Clean-tech industries are a target for development under China’s next five year plan, and provide a major opportunity for Australia to leverage its expertise in green technology. China’s green energy market is estimated by investment funds such as Peony Capital, to be around $1 trillion.
Creating and developing global alliances in low-tech will not only assist Australia in improving its innovation performance; it will position Australia to reduce emissions for the larger polluters, such as China and India.
The implications for Australia of this new approach to innovation are clear:
- In every key environmental technology sector more patents are abandoned andexpire into the public domain than from all currently enforced commercial platforms. The solutions foreverything from distributedpower, to fuel cells, to intelligentbatteries, to wind, solar, waterenergy and purification, hydrogenfuel, and much more are availablein the Open Source commons
- Most of what we call invention and innovation is nothing of the kind. Most of it is incremental and serves only our current addiction to unsustainable growth
- The majority of innovations today arise not from individual genius, but from networks. It is the fusion of contributors to these networks, linked to markets, which is the core of enterprise creation
- Networked, open-source, innovation provides broad social and cultural benefits rather than just short-term unsustainable growth at any cost
- Australia is well-placed to review government policies in order to liberate and recycle innovation. In doing so it could lead the world in developing a new innovation literacy - applying it directly to reconstruction following natural disasters.
David Martin, a partner in The Constellation, is speaking at an Australia21 national conference Innovation – DrivingResilient Energy and Economic Futures on Thursday 14 April 2011 at The Australian National University.
Hear an introductory video of Dr David Martin speaking about the Global Innovation Commons here.
Find further details and register for the Australia21 Conference Innovation – Driving Resilient Energy and Economic Futures, Australian National University, Thursday 14 April 2011, here.
Jigar Shar, CEO, Carbon War Room, is now confirmed to present at the upcoming Australia21 conference, via video link to Washington.
The Carbon War Room was formed to ‘harness the power of entrepreneurs to implement market-driven solutions to climate change’, and was set up by Richard Branson, José María Figueres (former President, Costa Rica & CEO, World Economic Forum), and others.
Dr David Martin, Founder, Global Innovation Commons, USA will be presenting in person, along with John Hewson, Richard Hames, David Miles, Andrew Lawson, Will Steffen, Anna Skarbek, John White, Anthony Bergin, Tony Coleman, and others who will focus on the prosperity opportunities that climate change can bring to Australia.
Innovation – Driving Resilient Energy and EconomicFutures a one-day conference will take place Thursday 14 April 2011 at ANU.Further details here.
Following is the text of a media release issued by Australia 21 on Saturday 12 March.
Billions of dollars at risk by not having a resilience framework
The recent Queensland floods and the terrible Japanese earthquake illustrate how major environmental disturbances can throw lives, infrastructure, and governments into chaos. How they recover is a sign of their resilience.
‘One thing we know’, says Prof Richard Hames, the newly appointed President of Australia21, ‘is that the future will surprise us. We don’t know how, or where or when.’
Pressure is mounting from the impacts of environmental and community upheaval from environmental turbulence. ‘We don’t have to wait doing nothing until the next disaster strikes that would be foolish’.
‘A resilience framework will allow for a more considered approach to dealing with these issues,’ Prof Hames stressed.
There is an urgent need at federal, state, and local levels for a resilience policy framework to target investment for both human capital and infrastructure so as to optimise the recovery of communities and local economies.
There is a serious danger of undermining resilience by going back to the way we were and not proactively addressing resilience issues.
Prof Hames said we must ask the question how the Senate can pass the flood levy without a resilience framework.
Consideration of resilience and complex systems dynamics will increase our opportunities of finding durable solutions to natural disasters.
Building a more resilient nation will require developing resilience tools, such as strength and speed of feedback mechanisms, diversity of ideas and resources, and a strong capacity for self-organising.
Australia21 is hosting a national conference examining energy and economic futures through a resilience and innovation lens. The conference discussion will help shape the way we as a nation prepare for a climate change future.
Following on from its highly successful National Conference on Resilience in February last year, Australia21 will be convening another national conference at the Australian National University on 14 April, on the theme Innovation: Driving Resilient Energy and Economic Futures.
We have an outstanding speakers list – full details below. We hope we will see you there.
To register, visit our website here and click the registration button. There is a student concession, and an early bird discount for registrations received by 28 February.
INNOVATION – DRIVING RESILIENT ENERGY AND ECONOMIC FUTURES
14 APRIL 2011, ANU
‘At the centre of this Government’s approach to climate change is economic reform’
‘Innovation is critical to our economic competitiveness’
The Hon Greg Combet, MP Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency Nov 2010
Session One - 9.00-10.30am
Welcome Paul Barratt AO, Director, Australia21
Chair – Molly Harriss Olson NBLF
Dr David Martin, CEO, Founder and Chairman, M·CAM, Inc. (via Skype)
Topic - Intergenerational equity and Global Innovation Commons
Speaker – Anna Skarbek, Executive Director, Climateworks Australia
Topic – Curbing Climate Change and Sustaining Economic Growth
Speaker - Prof Richard Hames, Chair, Australia21
Topic – Innovation– a networked phenomenon
Session Two 11.00-12.30
Chair – Dr John Hewson,Chairman, Global DC
Panel Session – Policy and Market Incentives & Impediments to innovation and commercialisation in energy businesses
Brendan Dow - Ceramic Fuel Cells (tbc)
Andrew Lawson- mbdEnergy (Biofuels)
Paul Verschuer – Carbon Markets, Westpac
Dr James Bradfield Moodie – CSIRO (invited)
Session Three – 1.30-3.00pm
Prof Mandy Thomas – PVC (Research) ANU
Topic - Innovation in carbon capture
Speaker: Dr John White
Topic – Community Engagement on Climate Change
Speaker- Prof Graeme Pearman
Topic – Investing in innovation for low-carbon technologies
Speaker - David Miles, CEO, Innovation Australia
Session Four – 4.00pm- 5-00pm
Chair – Prof Bob Douglas, Director, Australia21
Topic - Implementing sustainable and inclusive solutions to climate change
Speaker - Prof Will Steffen, ANU
Topic – Communicating the policy impacts of climate change – recent insights
This year is a very special one for Australia21 as we move into our tenth year of operation as an independent, non-profit organisation that facilitates multidisciplinary inquiry on issues of strategic importance in the 21st century.
In March Professor Bob Douglas, Inaugural Chair, A21 will step down and Professor Richard Hames will take over in that role.
To recognise these milestones Australia21 is holding a dinner on 11 March 2011 and we’d like to invite you to join us.
Prof Glyn Davis will give the keynote address on knowledge and innovation for Australia’s future, and accomplished Australian cellist David Pereira will present a recital of music inspired by our natural world.
It should be a wonderful night as Bob Douglas looks back over ten years - and Richard Hames looks forward – and you enjoy great music, food, drinks and inspired conversations.
Reserve your table by 21 February 2011 by completing the attached dinner form.
Resilience & Transformation: Preparing Australia for Uncertain Futures is a new Australia21 book published by CSIRO, which provides key trends and actions related to resilience in areas such as Organisations and Economics; Governance and Security; Energy and Settlements; Health and Education; Environment and Society; and Disaster Preparedness and Recovery.
Australia21 is holding a forum on Thursday 28 October 2010 to examine the important implementation aspects of resilience theory. It will be held in the Weston Theatre, Crawford School of Economics, ANU between 2.30pm-5.00pm. Registration cost of $80.00 includes a free copy of the 205 page book. A reception and book launch will take place immediately after the forum. The book will be launched by The Hon Mark Dreyfus QC, Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency. Registration and forum program at: http://www.australia21.org.au/resilience_forum.htm
In Joint forum on climate change I gave my extemporised summary of a high level group meeting on climate change and Australia’s response to it which was held at the Australian National University on 12 July.
The meeting, hosted by Australia21, Universities Australia and the National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development, included some of the nation’s leading climatologists, economists, climate policy experts and representatives of Australian business.
The question under discussion was “What are the best available policy options for reducing greenhouse emissions in Australia in the context of the Copenhagen result and the delay of an Australian CPRS [the government’s proposed emissions trading scheme]?”
The formal report of the forum has now been issued, and copies have been forwarded to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Leader of the Australian Greens . The executive summary appears below. The full report may be downloaded from the Australia21 website here, and the covering media release may be accessed here.
Executive Summary
Australia21, Universities Australia, and the National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable
Development combined to host a high-level forum of twenty-seven experts in Canberra on 12 July
2010. The meeting was held in the context of a forthcoming national election. This Australia21 report provides an overview of the forum discussion and outcomes.
The purpose of the meeting was to define how Australia could most effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in the aftermath of the Copenhagen discussions and the deferral of the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). The participants included climatologists, economists, social scientists and policy experts from a range of national institutions and businesses.
A brief review of the scientific consensus about climate change and Australia’s response to date reaffirmed that climate change is a public policy issue requiring urgent attention. Furthermore, far from being a world leader on this matter, Australia is now lagging behind many other developed and developing nations in producing mechanisms to mitigate and adapt to global warming. Yet the Australian electorate seemingly remains impatient for effective action.
The science clearly indicates that there is likely to be increased danger with increased warming and that in the face of grave risks and uncertainties associated with rising emissions Australia must move towards becoming a resilient society. There is the likelihood that feedback effects that are relatively unpredictable in their timing of onset could lead to ‘tipping points’ that would produce irreversible changes to our landscape and ecosystems, and place additional stresses on Australia’s regional and urban infrastructure and its food production systems.
It was concluded that plans for adaptation, mitigation and transformation must be developed in our national response to these changes, recognising that the climate of the future will hold the likelihood of ‘high impact-low probability’ events, of which the recent Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a striking example.
Much of the discussion centred on the potential role of carbon pricing in constraining greenhouse emissions and the practicability of various pricing approaches, including different ways of moving from where we are now, to a situation where a carbon price would result in trading of emissions entitlements as well as real reductions in the nation’s emissions - which are still continuing to rise.
A known and predictable price will offer business a clear understanding of the future costs they face, and will also facilitate investment in innovation in non-polluting energy production. Pricing could be introduced without disturbing the budget bottom line and made appealing to the public and industry, if the property rights on emissions are distributed effectively.
There was firm agreement that a new national narrative on emissions reduction should be developed, and on the importance of depoliticising the debate so as to reflect the magnitude of the environmental, economic and social aspects of changes to our climate.
While regulation for energy efficiency and strategic roadmaps for alternative energy technologies are vital elements of climate policy development, the meeting concluded that Australia should develop a pricing and market mechanism to win the support of the vast majority of Australians. A pricing and marketing mechanism will reduce business uncertainty and increase incentives for investment, at the same time as it contributes to rapid and essential reduction in emissions. There are a number of ways this could happen, and it should commence now.
An independent institution to manage a carbon price could assist in informing a carbon market and in educating the community. Any such institutional structure should be at arm’s length from the political process in much the same way as the Reserve Bank manages monetary policy.
The group is concerned at the way this policy is currently being handled and urges all political parties to work together to produce an effective carbon pricing policy. All political parties should engage in the scale and management required to create Australia as a low carbon society – and to bring it into the centre ground of national public policy.
The forum has offered its support to all parties to assist them to build an attractive and common pricing mechanism into their policy platforms.
On 12 July a high level group of 27 experts on climate change and Australia’s response to it was held at the Australian National University. The group included some of the nation’s leading climatologists, economists, climate policy experts and representatives of Australian business.
The meeting was hosted by Australia21, Universities Australia (the peak body representing Australia’s 39 universities) and The National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development.
The question under discussion was “What are the best available policy options for reducing greenhouse emissions in Australia in the context of the Copenhagen result and the delay of an Australian CPRS [the government’s proposed emissions trading scheme]?”
At the end of the day the three organisations hosted a small function to enable us to meet with various Canberra based people who are involved in the climate change issue in one way or another.
My task at this point was to give our guests my take on what had occurred during the day – a summary that I hope did not do too much violence to how any of the other participants saw the proceedings.
My summary was recorded by my colleague, Australia21 Chairman Professor Emeritus Bob Douglas, who had chaired the day’s proceedings, and what follows is a transcript of my extemporised summary.
Summary
It will not come as a surprise to any of you – because Australia has been thrashing around with this problem of climate change since 1992 – that our discussions today have not produced any new magic bullets. We know what most of the solutions to our policy problems in this area are, so please do not be surprised if a lot of what I say in the next few minutes has a familiar ring to it. This is my summary of the consensus of the people who met in the room today.
The genesis of this meeting was a feeling that following the postponement of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and the disappointing outcome of the Copenhagen discussions – though I am not as disappointed about that as some commentators – Australia21, as an organisation interested in public policy, should be sitting down and thinking – “Well, what can Australia actually do? What are the politically feasible next steps?" Happily, Universities Australia and the National Business Leaders Forum on Sustainable Development were very happy to collaborate in hosting today's event.
The first point is that we all agree that action is urgent from the climate point of view. A 2° rise in average global temperature is almost inevitable. 2° will be difficult to cope with. What we are dealing with right now is not only abatement but also adaptation. We must have a very clear view that we are in the adaptation phase right now.
Action is urgent from another point of view, to create investment certainty and to ensure that there is investment for our future energy needs that can take place on an informed basis. People need to know where they stand. It is also important from the point of view of enabling consumers to make informed decisions about technologies they want to use in the abatement and adaptation process. Inaction in that regard has already cost us.
There was a clear view that we must price carbon and that we must develop a carbon market. There are at least three reasons why we need to price carbon, and the first is of course the obvious one of the impact on demand that results from having a price on carbon. Equally, or perhaps more important, is the incentive that a carbon price creates to innovate, and to innovate on a clear view of what the market is telling you. So the question becomes “what will be a commercially sustainable form of innovation?”
The third point is that a carbon market – a futures market in carbon – is a mechanism to bring perceptions of the future back into the present. As new technologies emerge and new situations arise, people in the market can say “Well, I am going to respond to this in a certain way.” That in turn will have an impact on the price of carbon.
We also have to recognize that the climate is a driver of a number of issues. The most obvious ones are water availability and water management, our food production systems, which lead to questions of what will be the distribution of life and living and economic activity in rural and regional Australia, and will have a very profound implications for the preservation of biodiversity
We can't predict the future. So we need to make sure that we adopt resilient policy frameworks. By resilience we mean the ability to withstand a shock and continue to function with the purpose for which we want the system to function. One clear way to create resilient frameworks is to have a diversity of technological solutions. We should not get locked into one view of the future with a single bet or a narrow range of bets.
Because of the urgency, we need to take early actions. And they obviously have to be politically feasible early actions. Amongst the early actions, we can see the necessity to communicate a target for a carbon budget, to set the transitional price on the pathway to a long-term framework and to pluck – to use a cliché – the low hanging fruit. That requires an emphasis on identification and implementation of the energy efficiency frameworks that are currently evolving.
We need to look now to a broad roadmap of the long-term actions to be taken and those would include a robust long term energy pricing and trading framework. It is very important to try to depoliticize the subject and in the long run transfer the market process to an independent institution where it is more secure from the political hurly-burly.
Government needs to approach the public debate strategically. By strategically, I mean changing the environment within which the debate takes place, and that means communicating to the public the science, the urgency, the mechanisms and the policy framework.
Above all, we would assert that central government has to re-capture and act on the climate change issue. It must put itself back at the centre of policy and the centre of the debate, and not simply be reacting. It needs to be leading the issue, and creating the political climate for action.
The Preliminary Program has been released for an international conference on Sustaining Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services, to be held at Salzau Castle, near Kiel, from 8-10 June, with pre- and post -workshop events at Kiel University (see here).
Australia 21 Scholar Simone Maynard, a Ph.D. candidate at the Australian National University, will be delivering two presentations on Tuesday 8 June – one on the development of an ecosystem services framework for Southeast Queensland, and one based on Australia 21’s paper Towards a National Ecosystem Services Strategy for Australia.
2010 Australian Academy of Science Fenner Conference on the Environment,
"Healthy Climate, Planet and People"
which will explore the co-benefits for health flowing from action on climate change -- a positive story.
Where: The Shine Dome, Acton ACT When: 23-24 June 2010
Keynote speakers, including Professor Sir Andy Haines, Head, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Professor Kirk Smith,University of California Berkeley, and many more, will address the health impacts of key climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies - in particular alternate approaches to human mobility (shifts to walking, cycling and mass transit), diet (shift to greater proportion of vegetable matter in the diet), housing (materials, solar orientation, ventilation) and energy generation. Such strategies will increase physical activity levels and improve nutrition and air quality, whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions (both carbon dioxide and methane). The economic implications, including for social equity, will also be discussed.
Stefano de Pieri will be guest speaker at the conference dinner - catered by the award-winning chef, Janet Jeffs - which will be held in the Members Dining Room at Old Parliament House.
Places are strictly limited - there are less than 100 seats remaining. To ensure that you have a seat at this exciting conference make sure you register early! Once you register online, you will be emailed a payment form, which you are urged to return as soon as possible to guarantee your place.
Thanks to generous sponsorship registration fees for this two-day conference are very reasonable.
