Climate Change – Challenges and Opportunities
Stockholm, 29.10.2009 - Federal Councillor Doris Leuthard | Swedish-Swiss Innovation and Clean Tech Forum
Excellency, dear Minister, dear Ewa
Dear State Secretaries
Mrs. Gustafsson,
Mrs. Renold,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I'm very glad to be here in Sweden with a delegation of more than 70 representatives from the fields of business, science and politics and to have the opportunity to come together with an as impressive Swedish delegation. This is the fifth time that Switzerland conducts a combined business, science and technology mission with another country. I would like to thank the Swedish government for its invitation to Stockholm for this tripartite mission.
In terms of international climate policy, Sweden and Switzerland share similar positions and pursue similar goals. While both countries cause relatively low levels of emissions compared with other industrialised nations, they both share responsibility along with other nations for the global greenhouse gas problem due to their highly international economic structure and assume that responsibility.
Switzerland and Sweden possess a wealth of technological know-how in the fields of environment and energy. In Sweden, Stockholm and Malmö have just shown what resource-efficient town planning can achieve in the shape of Hammarby Sjöstad and Western Harbour. Switzerland is currently seeking to reinvent ‘clean mobility' with its ‘Solar Impulse' project. At the initiative of stratosphere pioneer Bertrand Piccard, our researchers have set themselves the ambitious goal of launching an aircraft powered exclusively by solar energy to fly day and night and thus travel around the globe with no fuel or emissions; a goal that can only be achieved with a great deal of courage and spirit of adventure; and if we go beyond the bounds of today's technologies and shake up established ways of thinking.
Countries with a high level of innovation, such as Sweden and Switzerland, can and should not only use resource-saving technologies in their own country. They should also transfer them to other industrialised nations and above all to developing and emerging countries. That way they can actively assume their responsibility in the international community. The forthcoming discussions won the Climate Convention will therefore also address the question of how we can bring about this technology transfer and its financing.
The opportunities presented by Clean Technologies are closely tied to the global challenges in the area of energy and the environment. The energy sector generates a great deal of value added in Switzerland. Global market growth is enormous: Export markets are growing by 5-10% a year; tendency rising. Seen from this perspective, Cleantech has outstanding economic potential.
If that potential is to be harnessed, answers are needed to the following questions:
- First: How can the avoidance of climate change be used as an economic opportunity?
- Second: To what extent can education, research and innovation contribute to overcoming the challenges relating to climate change?
- Third: How can the transfer of research findings into marketable products be improved?
Regarding point 1: Energy and climate policy are closely linked. Climate policy will become increasingly relevant for economic policy. The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the extent necessary requires additional annual investment worldwide in the order of hundreds of billions of dollars. This need for investment - once it has been recognised by private investors as an economic opportunity - provides technology sectors that have modern and innovative solutions with the possibility to reposition themselves. There are many products on the market and they can also be sold under the usual market rules. If we want to see a rapid shift to clean and green tech impulses and public incentives will be required speed up the flow of investment. And for developing and emerging countries whose emissions potential is far greater due to the growth of their economies, we will have to find special financing possibilities. The question as to how much will be borne by which country will have to be discussed at the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December.
One thing is clear: The use of efficient technologies leads to a reduction in energy costs. That's why climate protection offers great opportunities from both a business and broad economic perspective. Countries and businesses that invest in climate protection today, will be the winners of tomorrow on the world's markets. An efficient and effective climate policy is more than simply environmental policy. It is also about economic policy.
In Switzerland - and I am sure the same also applies for Sweden - many firms are well placed to actively make use of these opportunities. Through coordinated innovation efforts new jobs can be created in Switzerland in the Cleantech area in promising sectors. We can build on our known strengths in the development and application of future technologies.
Switzerland - just like Sweden - therefore has good reason to actively commit itself to an ambitious global climate regime. A sustainably-oriented approach towards dealing with the consequences of climate change will ultimately cost us - and future generations, as the Stern report clearly shows - less than the alternative.
Regarding point 2: Climate change and its consequences are among the greatest challenges of our century. The facts in the field of energy urge us to act: The OECD anticipates an increase in per capita energy consumption between 2005 and 2030 of 20%. The International Energy Agency even predicts a worldwide increase in energy demand by 2030 of over 50%. Consequently, actors in the fields of politics, business and science are called upon to come up with effective responses and to implement them.
But we will only be able to meet these tasks if we invest in human capital and skills and thus create the possibility to continually improve ourselves. For this reason, investment in education, research and innovation in connection with climate change has a high priority in Switzerland.
In Switzerland, the strategic foundations for the promotion of education, research and innovation define the scientific and education policy goals and measures that are to be met and implemented between 2008 and 2011. The Swiss government is spending 20 billion francs to that end. Compared with the last credit period 2004 - 2007, our education policy budget has seen an increase of around 20%. Additionally, we are currently investing a further 135 million francs in the field of education, research and innovation as part of measures to support the economy.
Our policy is oriented on two overriding guidelines.
- The aims in the field of education follow the ‘sustainable assurance and improvement of quality' guidelines. The key is the commitment towards an educational offering that corresponds to the principle of individually tailored lifelong learning and that allows people to move between vocational and traditional branches of education. In Switzerland young people, even weaker and socially-disadvantaged people, have the opportunity to integrate themselves into the labour market through non-compulsory practice-oriented education and training.
- In the area of research and innovation, we are pursuing a strategy to improve com-petitiveness and growth. Alongside the targeted promotion of young scientific researchers and the development and expansion of sustainable research in vocational education and training, the emphasis is on the transfer of knowledge from universities into the economy and the promotion of promising application-oriented research and development. At the same time, we are also seeking to create the best possible conditions for Swiss actors in the field of research and innovation through membership and involvement in strategically important organisations and programmes at international level.
Regarding point 3: The situation in terms of research in Switzerland - just as in Sweden - is excellent: Switzerland invests around 3% of its GDP in research and development. In Sweden it is even almost 4%. In both countries, the lion's share of this investment has for decades now been funded by the private sector. In energy research alone, over 700 million francs are invested in Switzerland each year.
However, according to experts and representatives from the business community, not enough use is made of the potential for research and associated synergies in Switzerland. Here we have some catching up to do. The Cleantech sector is a growth market in which Switzerland has so far played too small a part. Many business projects fail to reach the critical mass required to take advantage of global growth opportunities. The challenges also include the financing of start-ups. Here investors with venture capital are important and welcome actors. We need sponsors, who are aware of the risks involved in a company's early days, but who are still willing to invest in the future. Given that the Cleantech sector is promising for venture capital investments , we do not believe that it is the task of the State to act as a financial supporter here.
The ability to translate research findings into marketable products is hugely important in order for Switzerland to be able to take advantage of the global growth opportunities in the area of Cleantech. As minister for economic affairs, I will do all I can to strengthen application-oriented research and the transfer of knowledge and technology through appropriate measures.
I have already implemented the first promising measures in this direction in my ministry. The Innovation Promotion Agency this year organised over a dozen large events to highlight to SMEs the opportunities for innovation in the Cleantech field. At the same time, it provided financial support for applied R&D projects. The share of CTI Cleantech projects among the various disciplines is currently around 10%. Measures also include the promotion of network activities and events, such as this ‘Swedish-Swiss Innovation and Cleantech Forum'.
Ladies and gentlemen, climate, energy and economic policy are complex areas shaped by existing economic structures. We must succeed in incorporating the many research and development projects into a system with close cooperation between science and industry that strengthens export promotion and further improves market access conditions abroad.
I am convinced that Sweden and Switzerland can learn from each other on these important issues. Together we have something to offer the world. But only if the transfer of know-how in research and development continues and is intensified. I hope that this ‘InnoForum' can contribute to the international networking of science and industry in the field of Cleantech. Only then can we bring our particular strengths in the field of Cleantech to bear and optimally position ourselves as innovative locations for high quality and highly-specialised products and services on the global markets.
I thank you for your commitment and wish you every success.
Check against delivery !
Publisher
Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research
http://www.wbf.admin.ch
