Jun 3 2008
According to a new analysis released today by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), the clean energy revolution will only reach its full potential in solving our energy needs worldwide if there is determination to promote and protect the intellectual property (IP) that makes green technology possible.
In "Don't Kill the Green Goose," IPI senior research fellow Chris Israel writes that, amidst all the various urgings to promote the clean energy industry, there must be a global approach that prioritizes real world impact, respects intellectual property, and respects the innovation process.
For example, Israel anticipates an impasse when the desire to deploy green technology to the nations that need it the most may not have the equal will to protect the IP making that technology possible.
"There may be an emerging quid-pro-quo in which developing countries will agree to take steps to enhance their environmental protections if they are simply given the technology to do it," said Israel. But green technology comes at a price.
"Clean energy technology will come in hundreds of variations and will take billions of dollars to develop, test and deploy," said Israel. "To sustain this model, there must be a truly global marketplace where IP and innovation are rewarded according to economic drivers such as value, quality, and demand."
Israel suggests a balance between rewarding investments in the industry and the demands placed on the technology's distribution:
- Avoid using protection policies (i.e. tariffs) at the expense of deploying important technologies quickly.
- Seek efficiencies in moving innovations to the market.
- Respect the IP that empowers advances in clean technology.
"The need to achieve technological breakthroughs to provide cleaner, more efficient, cheaper and more abundant sources of energy may indeed be the race-to-the-moon for this generation of American inventors, scientists, and entrepreneurs," said Israel.
"Policymakers must ensure a global environment that respects and rewards the innovation and intellectual property protection necessary to meet the energy challenges of the future," he concluded.