Low Carbon Economy In Action

I was at the launch of the London Clean Tech Cluster (LCC) which took place at the law firm Taylor Wessing last Wednesday evening.

I have been helping the LCC since Clive Hall, the founder came to see me in the spring of last year. Clive has been a whirlwind of energy and has pulled together a really impressive list of supporters. 
 

The aim of the LCC is to:

-          support cleantech businesses in the London region and attract new cleantech businesses to London

-         support exports and attract foreign investment into the cleantech space

-         encourage the uptake of cleantech across London and the Southeast.

There is quite a buzz around the eco-tech/clean-tech space at the moment, and I am hoping that this sector's continued growth will overcome some of the ridiculous prejudices held by the uniformed.

Labelling it as the "green economy" is unhelpful in the extreme- this allows the foolish to conjure up images of crystals and tepees. Whereas cleantech actually spans the industrial spectrum from catalytic chemistry, through advanced composites, past power systems to civil engineering. 

A rather dysfunctional view of business and industry is one of the prejudices that clouds rational discourse in this area, especially from those individuals who have a sub-conscious image of industry as being Victorian era dark satanic mills. 

Clean-tech with its SME base located in light industrial units and on university campuses does not accord with this image, which may explain serial policy failures to engage with the sector over the last 10 years.

However, you can't argue with the power of the market (although my previous post does mention policy risk holding back investment). The bottom line is that in an increasingly urbanised world, a world that will soon contain 9 billion people, demand for efficient and effective solutions to the problems of energy supply, clean water and air pollution is only going to increase.

The City of London is very interested in the market opportunities this presents- Venture Capital, investment, insurance and of course legal services- particularly around Intellectual Property Rights.

The UK has a choice- it can either throw its weight behind the domestic companies who are developing this technology and reap the rewards of enhanced exports, or it can let them wither on the vine and be forced to buy in expensive solutions ten years down the line.

I am a natural optimist, but given our past track record (jet engines, radar, television, lean burn engines, the computer boom of the nineteen eighties) sometimes even I struggle to see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

Anyhow, through partnerships with the LCC, Imperial Colleges' wonderful KIC and joint programmes with the Aldersgate Group and the London Accord, the City of London Corporation intends to keep the eco-tech flame alive in the City of London.

I will let you know how things progress.