How can climate innovation clusters help create a net zero-carbon economy?
Governments around the around the world have picked up on innovation clustering as a way to stimulate jobs, productivity and economic growth. But innovation-as-usual is not delivering change at the necessary scale and pace to tackle climate change.
Climate innovation clusters – built around local competitive advantages in the new climate economy – can become engines of local economic growth and increase the rate of change to a climate-resilient society and net zero-carbon economy.
In this new series of expert insights, the authors argue that stimulating climate innovation clusters should be at the heart of job creation, skills and export plans at all levels of government.
“If we want to create jobs and inclusive growth on a 1.5 degrees trajectory, we’re going to need a new kind of innovation agenda” says Tom Mitchell, Chief Strategy Officer, EIT Climate-KIC. “With this series we are inviting collaboration and contributing to the debate about how we should get to the net zero-carbon economy.”
About the insights
Accelerating the Evolution of Climate Innovation Clusters is a series of ten peer-reviewed insight documents written by renowned climate innovation experts.
The series was commissioned by the UK & Ireland team to support our 2017-2020 focus on building climate innovation clusters in city-regions across the UK & Ireland.
The series offers lessons, tools and an emerging evidence base for any city looking to put climate innovation at the heart of future jobs and skills strategies – and an expert overview for anyone who wants to understand the climate innovation cluster approach to regional economic development.
Explore this series of ten expert insights to find out:
- which 18 ingredients make a climate innovation cluster most likely to emerge and grow
- why they provide an accelerated path to the climate-smart society of the future
- what lessons we have learnt from clusters in other countries
- where climate innovation clusters are emerging in the UK and Ireland
- why we think climate innovation clusters should be at the heart of job creation, growth and export plans at all levels of government.
“This excellent series sets out the foundations of a plausible, climate innovation cluster approach to regional economic development, built around local strengths in the new climate economy” says Lisa Tricket, Councillor for Birmingham City Council.
"If we want to create jobs and inclusive growth on a 1.5 degrees trajectory, we're going to need a new kind of innovation agenda."