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Green Technology Foresight about environmentally friendly products and materials 6 Policy recommendations: enhancing the focus on environmental and innovative aspects of ICT-, bio- and nanotechnology
6.1 IntroductionThis chapter summarises the conclusions from the analyses of ICT-, bio- and nanotechnology in the previous chapters. Following this, policy recommendations are developed aiming at enhancing the focus on environmental aspects and innovative perspectives in future research, innovation and applications related to the three technology areas. The recommendations suggest an integration of policies that often are applied separately and have either environmental problems or innovation support as their main focus. Section 6.2 presents a framework for the policy recommendations. Section 6.3 summarises the findings from the analyses of the three technology areas and characterises the environmental potentials and risks. Section 6.4 discusses the recommendations for related Danish and EU policy initiatives. Section 6.5 – 6.8 discuss the findings from the analyses in relation to important discourses around environment and innovation and discuss recommendations for research, innovation, application areas and environmental governance. Section 6.9 presents the policy recommendations. Environmental policy usually addresses mature technologies looking for substitution possibilities and new applications that may remedy urgent environmental problems. It is quite another issue to address generic and immature technologies, or even, as in the case of nanotechnology, a technology that hardly has materialized yet. This raises new questions on policy instruments which crosses traditional policy domains. The use of the relevant measures in the different stages of research, innovation and implementation and use is here the core issue. When and how shall and will policies seek to influence the (green) direction of technological change? Obviously the relevant interventions and questions raised are different in the idea generation phase compared to the later experimental, early production or full commercial phases of the innovation process. The technologies addressed in this study are general purpose technologies that may have profound effects on society. In the case of ICT that has already proven to be the case. Biotechnology is having a rising impact on the economy whereas nanotechnology is still in its infancy but with expectations that it may form the platform for a future industrial revolution. We are dealing with technologies that have some similarities in being generic and enabling rather than just being distinct technologies on their own. But they are also technologies which differ very much in their maturity, technical properties and uncertainties involved. In many applications the three generic technologies will not be standing alone but be parts of more complex products and systems where the combination with other technologies are important for their function and environmental impact. Their impact is not just a determined consequence of their basic features but also dependent on how they are used and which products and systems they are integrated into. In the following policy recommendations will be developed springing from the analysis undertaken on technology development internationally and nationally within these three technology areas and from the discussions at the project workshops and the final conference January – April 2005. The recommended policy measures will enhance the capability of the Danish national innovation systems and the Danish environmental regulation to cope with the special features and potentials of these generic technologies. 6.2 A framework for policy recommendationsThe recommendations in the following paragraphs are based on the identified innovative and environmental potentials from the three studied generic technologies including also the need for framing the environmental priorities in a broader public consensus and handling the environmental potentials and risks arising from the implementation and use of applications. But also the conditions for policy in the areas of research, innovation and environmental regulation and governance have to be taken into account. Danish competencies within the identified areas of research, development and potential applications have also been included in considering the specific recommendations. If Danish R&D institutions or companies have competencies within some of the analysed fields a focus on this area could create a combined focus on environment, economy and employment. Fields, where Danish R&D institutions and companies may not have strong competencies today, could also become important if technologies within these fields could prevent or reduce environmental problems and resource consumption in Denmark in the future. The project has taken as its outset that technological change and environmental impacts only in a few special cases will be directly linked the development of generic technologies and the materials or processes following these developments. The major applications and impacts are shaped as results of the activities of research, development and use in a series of major and minor complementary innovations influenced by a number of involved actors and their priorities along the lines of application. Our studies of the technologies and their applications have confirmed this conceptual foundation in relation to all three generic technologies: ICT, biotech and nano, despite their differences both in areas and degrees of application. This leads us – in accordance also with the framework and methodologies developed in chapter 2 – to differentiate between policies which primary objective is to prioritise, support and
aiming at transforming new entrepreneurial ideas and results from research into innovations that can be tested in real life situations and enter competitive markets. As a third policy perspective we include a special focus on those mature and market introduced technology applications in products and systems having ‘green’ potentials that are not realised under the present market, production and user regime, but where more stringent
could provide the difference. In the cases of strategic support for innovation and the regulation of applications a sector or even product domain approach may be needed to reach the intended, anticipated environmental results concerning reduced loads and improved performance. In addition to the three areas of policy improvements outlined, a fourth and cross cutting area
follows from the results of this study. Governance focuses on the need for a broader stakeholder dialogue to handle the legitimacy of the environmental priorities and consider relevant measures to establish consensus - for example about the level of uncertainty concerning the environmental potentials and risks that can be accepted for certain technology applications. The four policy perspectives are shortly presented in the following. Later in the chapter each of the perspectives are applied in relation to the technology areas. Ad 1. Guiding research to include environmental perspectives, including policy options for assessing research strategies and potential outcomes, creating visions and objectives for areas of research, and setting the stage for prioritising the research to be supported by government and private funds. Ad 2. Focusing innovative activities on the combination of technologies within specific fields of application creates the core elements of strategic innovation policies. The results of such policies should be the creation of new paths for technological development by supporting the critical and highly uncertain first steps of bringing good ideas with potential environmental benefits from the laboratory and sketch board to real prototypes and scale tests. This kind of strategic innovation policy may also include a market support structure based on an open and competitive definition of the technologies and application to be supported. This will sustain the learning modes, visions and strategy building within research and industry in the first infant steps of creating new areas of application without falling in the traps of ‘picking winners’ either by technology or institutions. Ad 3. Regulating technology applications through the regulation of driving forces and institutional frames determining the use of products, the development of consumption areas etc. form the third policy area where a number of different policy instruments will become relevant and the coordination of policies between different policy domains and ministries are in focus. Ad 4. The legitimacy of the environmental aspects and of the problems and solutions addressed within the three technology areas can not easily be developed and managed. The environmental potentials and risks cannot be defined or prescribed only through scientific investigations and consideration, because the uncertainties as well as the stakes are high. The assessment of environmental potentials and risks is highly dependent on the consensus or positions established among the different stakeholders in society and the policies and interventions resulting from this process. A deliberate focus on environmental aspects in research and innovation policies therefore also need to establish a framework of social interactions and policy dialogues focussing on the environmental concerns of different stakeholders and addressing the uncertainties in relation to both potentials and risks involved with new technologies. Environmental governance should therefore be seen as a cross-cutting policy measure in the guidance of research, innovation and applications. 6.3 Overview of the findings from the three technology areasThe studies reported in chapter 3, 4 and 5 of possible future innovations and use patterns involving ICT- bio- and nanotechnology have identified a number of environmental potentials and risks. These findings are briefly summarised in the following paragraphs. 6.3.1 Summary of findings related to ICTEnvironmental potentials and risks have been analysed within five ICT-technology application fields: a) development of the environmental knowledge base, b) improved product and process design, c) improved process regulation and control, d) intelligent products and applications and e) reduction of transportation through changes in logistics and mobility needs. The ICT sector in Denmark has a strong position in communications technology and pervasive computing and is one of the leading countries regarding public and private use of ICT. The analyses show potentials for environmental improvements from the use of ICT-based tools and devices for data collection and processing of more data in more complex calculations. Some tools enable more overall resource efficiency in e.g. industry so that it is the specific aim of the application by the single organisation that determines whether and how environmental achievements are in focus. The integration of electronic components into products, so-called intelligent products or pervasive computing and intelligent applications, could imply environmental potentials related to automatic optimisation of the function of products, operational feedback to the user, digital product information about maintenance, reuse etc., integration of products into digital networks whereby use might take place during low load cycles of the electricity supply, and digital upgradeable products. Telework, e-business and logistics are those ICT applications with the most implications for transport behaviour in the future. Telework might imply that regular transport related to commuting and shopping in certain hours is replaced by more differentiated transport needs. Although only a limited amount of employees will be able to telework, this could challenge the existing infrastructure of public transport and strengthen individual transport solutions. Mobile telework will be more widespread as mobile communication solutions will offer the same facilities at comparable costs as those offered from the office. This may enable an increase in business travel transport in interaction with the ongoing globalisation of manufacturing and trade. Within freight transport e-business could lead to more transport of small batches with high urgency to professional and private customers. The concept of just-in-time production in industry could also imply more transport due to the request for more frequent supply of small batches of materials and products. Logistic tools might optimise the amount of transportation within these organisational and economic conditions. The identified environmental potentials within the five application fields play today no significant role in the development and use of software and ICT-equipment. Achievements within these fields demand environmental regulation of the respective application areas influencing the priorities made by the users and the dominant driving forces for innovation and implementation. An increased amount of electronic products, miniaturisation of products, pervasive computing and a more dispersed use of sensors and other devices could imply increasing problems in the future with electronic waste. Increased use of pervasive computing and increased wireless communication might cause health problems due to increased electro-smog and safety problems due to interference between different devices operating in wireless networks. Efficient implementation of the EU directive about hazardous substances in relation to electronic products (RoHS) is necessary in order to achieve the planned substitution of some toxic materials are substituted in the future. Furthermore, efficient implementation of the directive concerning electronic and electrical waste (WEEE) is necessary in order to obtain increased recycling of materials etc. from the products. 6.3.2 Summary of findings related to biotechnologyPositive visions of the environmental contributions of biotechnology developments have been prevalent for 25-30 years but, as the foresight on biotechnology has revealed, the environmental visions have historically not been the drivers of innovation. There were strong efficiency drivers, however, especially for pharmaceutical and agricultural applications of new biotechnology, and they came to dominate the development. The environmental agenda only recently has come more to the fore, amongst other with a number of reports, policy documents and discussions papers. These reports and policy documents refer to a number of more specific biotechnology developments with environmental perspectives. The motivations for these developments are referred to as an increasing emphasis on problems in the chemical using industries, on resource scarcities and on the need to 'clean up'. Together with environmental regulation, government priority setting and biotechnology regulation, these have been drivers of an increasing, but still small part of biotechnology, with potentials to address environmental issues. In Denmark, enzyme technology comes out as a key technology for realisation of environmental benefits of biotechnology. It is demonstrated in the environmental assessments that enzymes in the referred cases address and reduce toxic agents, energy consumption and resource use, and references are made to representatives in the industry as well as researchers, who expect that enzymes will contribute even further by increasing efficiency in production and use, by being applied within more industries and by being further used in industries already using enzymes. Increasing focuson sustainability is referred to as potentially contributing the application of enzymes. With regard to developments within bio-ethanol and bio-polymers, environmental concerns have been key motivators for innovation, as well as concerns for fossil fuel scarcity. The environmental assessments of these areas of biotechnology, however, demonstrate a need for further evaluation and debate of their perceived environmental advantages. Any use of biological resources may in the future have to address the fact that biological resources are of limited availability, and any environmental claim will, therefore, have to compete with alternative uses of such resources. Using arable land and agricultural crops for bio-ethanol and bio-polymers with the purpose of substituting fossil fuels, therefore, probably has to compete with the use of the same land and crops for substituting fossil fuels in the energy sector. With regard to the application of new biotechnology for monitoring and remediation, it has been foreseen to contribute to cleaning of a number of pollutants. An important barrier for further research as well as development has been referred to as uncertainties regarding also the negative consequences. Private research and development primarily takes place in the US; however, further research into the potential positive and negative consequences still seems a prerequisite for a debate on the acceptability and extent of application. 6.3.3 Summary of findings related to nanotechnologyThe Danish nano innovation system is still at a very early and fluid stage of formation. The current phase of path creation seems therefore crucial for the direction nanotechnology is going to take. Despite frequent references to eco-opportunities in the general debate on nanotechnologies the problem solving activities and the emerging technological paths in the Danish nanotechnology community are only moderately green. Consequently many eco-opportunities might be neglected. Environmental risks are also overlooked although there is a rising, but new concern about these within the Danish nano community. The environmental aspects related to nanotechnologies are as yet very uncertain. There are knowledge gaps both about the environmental risks and the eco-opportunities, because of the very early stage of development. There is rising international concern on environmental and health risks related to nanoparticles which questions the overall environmental impact of nanotechnology and which is in need of urgent further inquiry. Quite a wide range of nano related potential eco-innovations have been identified, in all 39 within eleven different nanoresearch- and technology areas, showing the very generic applicability of nanotechnology. These may contribute to remedy the environmental problems in four ways: 1) ‘Smart tailored’ eco-efficient product. 2) New materials with new properties, which both could enable less use of energy and other resources in the manufacturing or the use of these products and materials, 3) Technology for renewable (fuel cells, solar cells, windmills) or more efficient energy systems and 4) Environmental remediation with more targeted dosing of e.g. hazardous chemicals and more targeted treatment of pollutants and efficient catalytic cleaning. Many of these are in a very early stage of development, hardly technologies yet, but in the medium to longer term (10-20 years) they may offer novel, often radical, solutions to many environmental problems if the technological obstacles are overcome. Environmental problems related to for example energy supply and transport (climate change), resource and energy use, use of chemicals, and treatment of waste and wastewater. Within catalysis and energy (fuel cells) Denmark already has quite strong competencies and market positions which could form the basis for building a strength hold in “clean nanotechnology”. Most of the identified nano eco-potentials are, however, not likely to be pursued in the current research and development trajectories in Denmark and are in need of policy action to be realized. The main barriers for achieving eco-innovation and sound risk management, related to nanotechnology, are:
Hitherto lacking systematic incorporation of environmental assessments in research proposals (but suggested in EU as well as Danish nano action plan). There is rising focus on toxicity but there is also need of focus on ‘clean nanotechnology’. Existing risk/environmental assessment procedures are not adequate for measuring and handling materials at the nano scale. 6.3.4 The character of the identified environmental potentials and risksThe identified environmental potentials within the three technology areas are of very different character with respect to the type of environmental strategy they represent: enhanced environmental knowledge, cleaner technology with focus on prevention or reduction of environmental impact at the source from products, materials and processes, and improved treatment of pollutants either by environmental technology like catalysts or in nature. Some examples are:
In most cases the environmental potentials cannot be realised through the application of a single technology, but are requiring a combination with supporting technologies, like the need for fuel supply for fuel cells, handling of waste and in some cases also certain innovation and application patterns. ICT-programmes for logistic planning, for example, can be used for a reduction of the amount of transport and thereby the amount of emissions from transport, but such programmes can also optimise the logistics according to other economic and performance parameters. Today there is only limited focus on the potentials of reduced amounts of transport through improved ICT based logistic systems and the achievements so far have been offset by the increase in transportation due to the trends towards a globalisation of industry and trade. The same is the case for the application of fuel cells, which will be dependent of the combination with other technologies for producing and storing energy and for new ways of constructing products using the fuel cells - all of which will contribute to the overall performance and impacts of the application of the nanotechnology. Potential risks have also been identified within all the three technology areas. Some of these risks are closely linked to a technology like the possible environmental and health impact of different types of nanoparticles, while others are depending on the patterns of application and use. The environmental impact from e.g. sensors distributed in big numbers in the environment could become an environmental problem, but today the prices are so relatively high that sensors are not disposable and are not be left in the environment. Some possible risks related to the three technology areas that need to be included in the future assessment of risks to environment and health, are:
The discussion of risks related to radiation from wireless communication are known from the discussion about mobile phones and other similar types of equipment and shows how different the results produced in the assessments are interpreted and valued among different stakeholders. If pervasive computing is expanding as foreseen by proponents within this field these types of problems might grow in the future and the electro-smog problem become a new field of pollution. Also the risks related to allergy produced by enzymes and genetic modified micro-organisms are known and are also showing rather different results in the assessments of their documented and potential risks. The controversies were demonstrated clearly at the policy workshop organised by the project in February 2005. The example of nanoparticles shows how those properties, which are seen as excellent and the core functional contribution from the nanotechnology by the researchers and industry, also can be those that imply risks to environment and health, like the relative large surface area, the improved and high reactivity, the limited physical dimensions which enable penetration etc. (Norges forskningsråd 2005, p.25). 6.4 Environmental governance as cross cutting policy measureEnvironmental governance, defined as policies creating platforms and methods for different actor groups to be given voice and developing frameworks for how decisions are made on issues of public concern, should be an integrated and important element of policies guiding and supporting research and strategic innovation and regulating the application of technologies within the three areas. An important aspect of governance concerns how issues and actors are being defined as inside or outside (the responsibilities of) a specific area of development and thereby what is legitimate to discuss as environmental (and other societal) potentials and risks. This includes on whose premises these boundaries are drawn. An important aspect of this is the inclusion and exclusion of actors in the processes of planning and managing public and private research and innovation. The reputation of biotechnology and nanotechnology might be more fragile than that of ICT, but for all three areas there is a need for focus on the legitimacy of the environmental potentials and risks. Some general governance aspects of the three technology areas include:
An important part of governance relates to the legitimacy of the problems and the solutions, which are addressed in research, development and application. The experience from genetic modified food shows that the discussions cannot be limited to expert assessment of quantifiable risk aspects, but need to include all stakeholders, which feel affected, in assessments of:
6.5 Recommendations for related Danish and EU policy initiativesThe linking of environmental issues with innovation policies is on the agenda of both Denmark and the European Commission expressed through strategic initiatives and programmes. These programmes create an opportunity to implement the recommendations from this project in already established strong policy frameworks that still are open for improvements and specifications concerning the detailed measures and priorities. Three of the most relevant policy programmes and initiatives and recommendations for the support of eco-innovation are discussed in this paragraph. 6.5.1 The Danish government’s plan for a strengthening of ‘green technology’The Danish government has in its recent governmental framework said that the development within ‘green technology’ will be strengthened, with energy and fuel as two possible areas. We propose such an initiative should include elements from all the four types of policy perspectives that we are proposing: guiding research, supporting strategic innovation, regulating application areas, and governing the framing and management of environmental potentials and risks. There are ways to shape a ‘green technology’ initiative that can accommodate the findings and recommendations from this project. The initiative could be a relevant place to cater for the specific problems relating to certain areas of application of technologies in products and systems and to regulate their use within areas of production, trade and consumption, which are environmentally important in terms of their consumption of material and energy and their environmental impacts. In contrast to the above outlined perspective, an initiative could end up focussing only on the development and promotion of the generic technologies as such and lack the emphasis on their applications and impacts. The risk is that the fairly general and international support for generic technologies as the most important area for government support policies results in action plans picking and promoting potential ‘winners’ by projecting their innovative and environmental performance. Instead the areas of support should respect the rather high uncertainty concerning the performance and impacts and focus on creating variety and supporting creativity in identifying different solutions and applications by involving stakeholders from research and from areas of application in industry and society. A Green Technology programme would need to have support not only in the Ministry of Environment, but also in Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and in the sector specific ministries in order to secure the necessary funding and support in related sector policies. 6.5.2 The Danish High Technology FoundationAnother important strategic programme is the Danish government’s creation of the High Technology Foundation. This has already from the outset defined ICT, biotech and nanotech as its primary focus areas concerning the technological base for future strategic innovation, which also is signalled in the name of the funding body. The application areas that the High Technology Foundation are expected to focus upon are not defined by means of the technology base but in relation to rather broad and for the society important problems to be handled (Ministeriet for Videnskab, Teknologi og Udvikling 2004):
The limitation, though, might eventually be that the visions for all four application areas are mainly described through the use of ICT-, bio- and nanotechnology, which indicates that the foundation maybe mostly is focusing on technology-based strategies. This is also the case for the studies of this project, so the important question is whether the technology base defined for the High Technology Foundation also will be limiting the outreach and perspectives of the supported research that the foundation will support, or if the obvious importance of integrating the generic technologies in more complex and integrated technologies in relation to the specific applications will open for studies also of these applications and the benefits and impacts that may follow them. The vision ‘Better food and medicine for a long and good life’ is for example mainly seen as a biotechnology based vision and not as an area relating the research to the social conditions created in modern every day life and work, which may limit the research to the production and product component perspective not including the fields of applications and impacts. Environmental aspects of ‘white’ biotechnology are not mentioned as a priority area. The vision ‘Energy for the future at the right price’ in contrast includes environmental aspects as a main objective. It focuses on the substitution of fossil fuel by a combination of renewable energy and increased energy efficiency. The strategy for the realisation of this vision builds upon more intelligent energy supply and energy consumption where the supplying units and the consuming units are linked through pervasive computing so that energy consumption takes place when there is a surplus of energy supply. Also nanotechnology is mentioned to have potentials for the future development of wind turbines and fuel cells. The vision ‘New materials with unlimited possibilities’ includes some environmental aspects of nanotechnology: the possibility to produce concrete with less consumption of energy and materials and the possibility of nanostructured functional surfaces to become for example self-cleaning. We have not in this foresight identified energy savings or networking of intelligent products with energy supplying units as visions in the development within intelligent products and pervasive computing. This might indicate a need for dialogue with the actors within intelligent products and pervasive computing about the possibilities for energy savings and networking of intelligent products with energy supplying units. The environmental potentials related to nanotechnology are among those potentials our analysis has identified within the nano community. We propose that the environmental aspects of all three technology areas - ICT, nanotechnology, and also biotechnology - get a high priority in the future activities of the High Technology Foundation. This could include formal participation of environmental authorities, environmental NGO’s and eco-innovation researchers in the further shaping and management of the Foundation’s activities. 6.5.3 EU’s Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP)The European Union’s Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP) is often highlighted as one of the policy tools that can become a major support for the development of ‘green technology’. The Plan contains eleven priority actions for the Commission, national and regional governments, industry and other stakeholders to improve the development and uptake of environmental technologies. These include:
The establishment of technology platforms is closely related to the subject of this report. One of the technology platforms, which have been established within ETAP, is the platform for Sustainable Chemistry, which aims at supporting the long-term success of the European chemical supply chain (European Technology Platform for Sustainable Chemistry). Since this foresight project has a focus on reduction of chemical impact on environment and health it is relevant to take a closer look at this platform as part of the development of policy recommendations and their implementation. The platform intends to deliver a long term vision for sustainable chemical technologies in Europe and a vision for a competitive and sustainable chemical industry. The focus of the platform is industrial biotechnology, materials technology, and reaction and process design. Included in the aims of the platform are horizontal issues like regulatory safety assessment, which are argued to constitute barriers to the adoption of new chemical technologies and the continued use of existing technologies. The platform draft also includes the perspective of public acceptance of chemical technologies, but takes as the outset that there is a deficit in the public understanding and expresses a need for societal acceptance of chemicals and the communication of actual risks (as opposed to what the description of the platform call ‘perceived risks’) of the chemicals to the broader society. The draft mentions ‘consensus among stakeholders on methods for and interpretation of chemical risk assessments’ as an objective although no specific stakeholders are mentioned and the understanding of environmental governance, as described above, has its primary emphasis on risk communication from experts to the broader public and not on dialogue between industry, researchers, government and NGOs. Even though this specific technology platform is not taking the broader perspectives argued for in this study into account in a very deliberate and explicit way, there could be important contributions to gain from ETAP if governments and innovation bodies, industry and NGOs engage in defining strategic relevant technology platforms with objectives supporting environmentally sound technology developments in different areas of application with high degree of legitimacy. Also Danish government and the agencies involved in implementing the Danish ‘green technology’ strategy should assess the potentials of engaging in the construction of such platforms under the ETAP umbrella. 6.6 Guiding research and research policy to include environmental aspectsAn important question to address in future research policy is when and how to carry out dialogues and other policy measures in relation to research within the three technology areas in order to obtain an enhanced focus on environmental potentials and risks. Research is not just one type of activity. An enhanced focus on environmental potentials and risks related to the three technology areas calls upon at least the following three types of research:
When it comes to measures for integration of environmental aspects and concerns into research and research policies the following types of guidance seem to be the relevant ones:
6.6.1 Visions as guidance of research policy and researchResearch policy raises the question, when it is possible to say something about the environmental potentials and risks related to some technology research. Could too early regulation limit a creative process? Could too late regulation imply that the vested interests in terms of equipment, external expectations etc. are too high and the direction of the research difficult to change? If technology research was an open process rather weak and guidance oriented measures could be adequate means of influencing the visions and priorities of the research policies and the research process. However, priorities concerning fields of technology research often focus on rather general assumptions of the importance of technologies and the possible results coming from economic investments in these areas of research. Even though there, as earlier discussed, might not be a direct link between research, innovation and application, researchers and policy makers often produce quite far reaching and presumptuous promises for the societal and sometimes also environmental benefits to be expected from new research areas. Since researchers often are using public communication in presenting their visions and promises to government, ministries, NGO’s etc. part of the research policy process should challenge these promises in order to create a better knowledge about the social and technical prerequisites and assumptions the promises are based on. The dialogue around expectations and promises may seem quite difficult in relation to nanotechnology and nanoscience, where there is rather little experience with the technologies and their application. The materialisation of the applied technologies will only take place in the near to medium future and is highly uncertain and very diverse. There is also limited knowledge about the environmental effects related to nanotechnology. However, also in relation to ICT and biotechnology there is a need for more dedicated focus on the environmental potentials and risks in the research strategies and the research itself than has been the case up till now. Therefore the same strategies and tools for research guidance can be applied in relation to all three technology areas. Dialogue processes with broad participation of interested stakeholders, including organisations that seldom are invited into planning and management of research (e.g. consumer organisations, environmental organisations and trade unions) might be a way of enabling assessments of the social and technical prerequisites of technology breakthroughs and of the environmental (and other societal) aspects of research. By being based on different types of knowledge and experience and by having broad stakeholder participation the results may achieve broad societal legitimacy. 6.6.2 Applying methods from technology foresightThe tools applied in this foresight project are relevant in all three types of research (policy research, technology research, environmental research):
Among the tools and strategies applied in similar activities in other European countries are
An important question concerns the pro’s and con’s to guiding principles for research, like for example the German principle about ‘inherently safe nanotechnology’. The role of guiding principles is known in research and innovation and also in relation to environmental potentials (Petschow, 2005). However, it is not clear what kind of guidelines could provide guidance and what kinds are so general that nobody can be against them and no guidance therefore is gained from them. Dialogue and vision building around the future development within the three technology areas could get inspiration from the plan of the Dutch Rathenau Institute’s for dialogue around five possible near-future applications of nanotechnology in order to make the discussion about nanotechnology more concrete and involve more stakeholders in dialogue around the pro’s and con’s of nanotechnology (Van Est & Van Keulen 2004). It could also be worth learning from the ongoing UK project about upstream and early public involvement in nano research conducted by Lancaster University and Demos based on ethnographic research among nano researchers and dialogue activities between researchers and citizens seen from a governance point of view (Grove-White et al 2004). Also the Dutch experience with constructive technology assessment (CTA) as part of the national nanotechnology programme is worthwhile considering (Rip, 2004). 6.6.3 Environmental screening of research proposalsEnvironmental screenings of research proposals is also a measure that should be considered. However, such screenings are only valuable if those evaluating the proposals agree in the importance of these aspects and are able to assess these aspects. Some of the earlier Danish experiences within food technology and biotechnology research based on a request for applicants to address aspects of the impacts on environment, health and safety have not shown too promising results. Many researchers chose not to address the issues and the evaluators consequently did not find the aspects important enough to let these aspects influence the priorities and decisions made. The experience with the present demand for addressing socio-economic aspects in EU research applications has neither been too promising either, as many of the technical domains have addressed these issues rather superficial. One reason may be the lack of environmental and health knowledge among evaluators of the proposals, but others relate to disagreements with the priorities and the very basic difficulties in assessing these aspects in the very beginning of a new field of research. The earlier described dialogue processes could also be applied in the screening of research proposals. 6.6.4 Environmental assessment as part of researchEnvironmental screening of research proposals is one thing, while environmental assessments as part of research are something else. Such assessments can be part of all three types of research (policy research, technology research, environmental research). So-called ’integrated environmental assessment’ is suggested in the EU nanotechnology strategy and in the Danish nanotechnology action plan. The idea could also be worth-while exploring within the ICT and the biotech area, while building on the experiences from the Danish technology assessment activities of ICT and biotech in the 1980’ies and 1990’ies. An important aspect of the assessment of environmental aspects of technology concerns the structure of the research funding schemes and the organisation of the environmental research as integrated or independent of the technology research: Should the funding for environmental research be given independent of the technology research? Should the environmental research be organised as an integrated or an independent activity? Environmental researchers being part of a technology research group or department could, on the one hand, develop trust in the relation to the technology researchers and enough proximity to the research process and the research subject to allow for detailed assessments. On the other hand, integrated environmental research capacity without independent funding could run the risk of becoming too close to and too dependent of the technology researchers. The environmental researchers could be afraid of preventing patenting as a possibility by pointing to environmental risks of a certain material, process etc. or by presenting the research to external stakeholders for dialogue about environmental aspects. This dilemma would become even bigger, if the environmental researchers do not have their own funding. It is important to follow and learn from also foreign experiences with the organisation and the funding of policy research and environmental research. At University of Cambridge a researcher within sociology of technology is employed within a nano research group. The Dutch constructive technology assessment activity within the national nanotechnology programme is organised as an independent, but integrated programme. The CTA programme organises their own projects, but in connection to activities within the national nanotechnology program. Furthermore, the competencies needed for such assessments are complex and could probably not be built within the single research organisation. All in all this points to the development of some independent capacity for assessment of societal aspects, including environmental potentials and risks of the three technology areas. A Danish environmental research capacity should also enable absorption, assessment and mediation of research on these issues from other countries. 6.7 Integration of environmental aspects in policy support for strategic innovationThe integration of environmental aspects into strategic innovation policies emphasises the creation of new paths of development and bringing new technologies to real life test. Instruments include:
The new “High-technology Networks” and “Innovation Consortia” instruments launched by the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation could be an option for targeted action towards eco-innovation for all three technology areas. The Danish experience with development within wind power and organic food as areas of eco-innovation show that it is possible to develop new, more sustainable development paths within an application area in competition and cooperation with existing well-established trajectories. Such path creation demands a combination of reshaping existing institutions, competencies and regulatory mechanisms etc., and developing new institutions, competencies and regulatory mechanisms etc. The experience with the regulation of wind power and organic food also show, however, that there are limitations to the regulatory capacity of the market if the development of the market is not supported by systematic public procurement, development of standards, support for research and development, competence development and restrictions to the competing technologies and products. The following paragraphs discuss some application fields related to each of the three technology areas, which could be considered as themes in future planning of innovation programmes. 6.7.1 ICTEnvironmental application of sensors plays today not a significant role in the development of sensors. A stronger development within this area seems to demand more governmental regulation of environmentally important industries in order to develop a stronger demand for sensors for collection of environmentally relevant process information. There is also need for more focus on environmental potentials and risks in the development of pervasive computing components and products, since the present paradigms neither seems not to focus on eco-potentials and nor on the environmental wastes and emissions and radiation problems related to pervasive computing (intelligent products) and applications. Potential problems which need to be addressed are products, which are manufactured as throw-away products (often called ‘disposable products’), products which are difficult to dismantle, and products with a short life time because the software is not updated. There is need for support for innovation in the interaction between product, user and organisational and societal context in order to support the development of more eco-efficient use patterns. Besides this, there is need for research in the experience so far with intelligent products and the impact on eco-efficiency. Such research should develop more knowledge about the shaping of use patterns as an interaction between ICT-based products, user and context and thereby develop more knowledge about possibilities and limitations to eco-potentials in intelligent products and applications. The increased integration of ICT-components into products could imply further pressure on the systems for handling of electronic waste, since there is no sign of total substitution of hazardous materials from this kind of products, although lead is expected to be substituted during the coming five years or so due to the RoHS directive. Strategies for effective enforcement of the RoHS directive for products for the domestic market, for export markets, and for imported products The risks from increased electromagnetic radiation due to increased wireless communication and electrical fields calls upon demands to electronic equipment and components and ongoing assessment of the amount and kind of radiation in homes, workplaces, schools and the public space. 6.7.2 BiotechnologyThere are still potentials in the development of the industrial applications of enzymes for substitution and reduction of the use of hazardous chemicals and enhanced resource efficiency in a number of industrial processes. In order to support the uptake of such enzymes there is need for regulation of chemical substances which the enzymes are supposed to substitute or optimise the use of, support to small and medium-sized enterprises’ uptake of enzymes and restrictions on resource consumption. The project’s policy workshop showed the need for more dialogue about different scenarios for the role of bio-materials from agriculture and food industry in a future energy supply scenario based on renewable energy sources. Reservation surrounds the use of genetic modified micro-organisms for bioremediation. Support for the development of more knowledge is a prerequisite for in-depth assessment of the potentials. 6.7.3 NanotechnologyNanoscience is in a critical phase of materialising into nanotechnology, but the scope and uncertainties are high despite major investments globally. Undertaking innovations in this area is therefore currently associated with much risk and well as fairly long term perspectives making it difficult to attract investors and industry. Special consideration should be made on how to promote the industrial up-take of nanoscience which today is weak and in many cases only emerging; both in relation to creating cooperation with existing industry and promoting start-ups. Further action could be to
6.8 Regulating areas of application in production, trade and consumptionTechnology applications within environmentally important product and consumption areas could be influenced in a more environmentally friendly direction by identifying and regulating the impact of driving forces and the institutional regimes determining the use of materials, production processes, products etc. If mature and market introduced technology applications with ‘green’ potentials are not realised under present market, production and user regimes more stringent regulatory policies and standards could provide a difference. A sector or product domain approach may be needed in stead of a technology approach. Some application areas are discussed in relation to the environmental aspects identified in the analyses of the three technology areas. The analyses of ICT- and biotechnology have pointed to mature and market introduced technologies, which are not having a sufficiently high uptake. In relation to nanotechnology regulation of applications is not yet a key instrument considering that most of the identified eco-potentials are pre-commercial. It is also very difficult considering the very wide general purposefulness of many of the nanotechnologies, i.e. the application areas are impossible to delimit. In specific cases, e.g. new types of energy efficient lighting or hydrogen cars, regulation of the application could be feasible, but at a later stage . 6.8.1 Regulating eco-efficiency and substitution of chemicalsICT-based tools are often highlighted as enabling better planning and management of environmental aspects due to the possibility of collecting and processing more data. However, experiences from the application of such tools seem to show that the environmental potentials often are limited. ICT-based tools for environmental management systems do not ‘automatically’ enable a better management of environmental aspects in industry and other organisations and might even prevent effective environmental management because the ICT-tools sometimes are supposed to work more or less by themselves. If better environmental management should be achieved there is need for stronger and more dynamic governmental regulation of businesses and public institutions and support for the development of the environmental competence through development of the internal relations between management, designers, manufacturing, sales and purchase etc. and the environmental staff, and between the industry etc. and suppliers, customers, governmental authorities and NGO’s. Such initiatives could create a development of ICT-based tools, which together with other initiatives can enable better develop environmental management Also the development of new, more environmental friendly paradigms for products and processes seems to depend less on ICT-based design tools than on development of the dialogue between stakeholders internally in a company and externally with suppliers and customers. For solvent-based chemical processes ICT-based eco-oriented process design tools are available, but are not in widespread use. ICT-based process regulation and control is used in many industries. This kind of process regulation and control can also be a way of reducing environmental impact if the process regulation and control is focused on reduction of resource consumption, reduction of emissions of pollutants etc. Governmental regulation of industry in terms of demands to emissions and wastes combined with increased prices on resources etc. and support for competence development could encourage industry to focus the process regulation and control more on environmental aspects, including substitution of hazardous chemicals through a more widespread use of for example enzymes. 6.8.2 Transport, logistics and mobilityThe amount of transportation of persons and freight is depending on a number of socio-economic changes that has very little to do with the development of ICT-equipment for transportation and logistics. The amount of private transport depends on for example the costs of housing and living in areas near the workplace of families and the prices on public transport and fuel. The amount of freight transportation is depending on the amounts of goods produced and the globalisation of industry and trade. Telework might contribute to some reduction in transportation, but might also enable more transportation, since it is now possible to work more efficient way from the workplace when for example participating in conferences, or visiting other facilities in a company. Hybrid cars with fuel engines and electrical engines or batteries building on complicated IT-based controlling of the combination of the different engines could give significant improvements in fuel efficiency. However, due to the present development strategies in the car industry and the tax system on vehicles and fuel the market penetration of these types of cars is modest. One way among a number of possible measures to regulate the transport sector could be increased prices on fuel. Another could be to establish systems of road pricing or road tolls in areas where alternative and more environmentally friendly transport solutions exist as alternative to the existing systems and their expansion. While some aspects of e-business may have some advantages concerning distribution of software products (because they can be distributed electronically) it could lead to more transportation based on the distribution of small batches of physical products, which might also be regulated via higher prices on fuel or other means of regulating the efficiency of commercial transport of goods. In similar ways regulation of transportation may also support the further development and implementation of programmes for optimisation of transport logistics. 6.9 Summarising: Recommendations integrating future environmental and innovative aspects of ICT-, bio- and nanotechnology6.9.1 IntroductionThe development within the three technology areas hitherto and the identified probable future trends introduce issues concerning environmental potentials and risks, including potentials and risks related to use, wastes and emissions of hazardous substances and materials. The following recommendations aim at high quality environmental governance in the development of the three areas, so that issues of societal needs and environmental potentials and risks are addressed within planning and management of research, innovation and technology applications. The recommendations are structured within the headlines - Environmental governance - Guiding research and research policy - Policy support for eco-innovation - Regulating application areas A recommendation starts with a headline, which is the recommendation in a short form and concrete initiatives are proposed afterwards. Some of the proposals starts with some general proposals addressing all three technology areas and ends with proposals addressing each of the three areas. The recommendations suggest roles to a broad variety of stakeholders, like research and innovation institutions, businesses and business organisations, governmental authorities, and consumer and environmental non-governmental organisations. The Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation are seen as important governmental authorities in the planning of the implementation of the recommendations. The status for each of the three technology areas are summarised in table 6.1 Table 6.1. Summarized status for the three technologies
6.9.2 Environmental governanceStrengthen the environmental governance in relation to ICT-, bio- and nanotechnology General proposals: Strengthened environmental governance should aim at
Strengthened environmental governance calls upon
Economic support is needed for Danish researchers’, governmental authorities’, and NGO’s continued national and international networking around experiences with environmental governance in relation to the three technology areas. Supplementary proposals for the three technology areas: ICT: There is a need for continued discussions about the environmental aspects of ICT and how they are shaped in interaction with societal trends like globalisation, more intense everyday life etc. This is also important as ICT technology in the future might get embedded into many new products like textiles etc. Such discussions should enable analyses that get deeper than the metaphor of ‘the knowledge society’ as very knowledgeable and only having limited resource consumption. Biotechnology: There is need for more public participation in the shaping of the future research and innovation strategies for white biotechnology. This should ensure discussions that get deeper than the metaphor of white biotechnology as a ‘clean technology’ in itself, because it is based on biological materials and processes. Nanotechnology: There are rising public, governmental and scientific concerns about how nanotechnology may lead to new types of health and environment risks because of new types of materials and processes with new characteristics. Environmental risks have hitherto been neglected to a high degree in the nano community. Since nanotechnologies could undergo much change the next 5-10 years there is need for ongoing dialogues highlighting trends, visions and fears. Nanotechnology comprises many different scientific fields why there is a need for discussions focusing on the different types of nanotechnology. 6.9.3 Guiding research and research policy:Stronger integration of environmental aspects in the guidance of research and research policy General proposals: It is suggested to develop
Supplementary proposals for the three technology areas: ICT: There is need for more knowledge about the role of ICT-based tools and technologies in the shaping of eco-efficient use patterns and in environmental management in order to develop more socio-technically based development strategies and paradigms for ICT-technologies. This includes:
Biotechnology: More knowledge about the environmental aspects of biotechnology seems to be one of the prerequisites for future application of these technologies. This includes:
Nanotechnology: The key barrier to nano eco-innovation is the lacking awareness and knowledge of nano-related eco-potentials and business potentials. It is difficult to get environmental funding for fundamental nano research, since this kind of funding tends to focus on more mature and immediate solutions. There is need for:
6.9.4 Support for eco-innovationSupport eco-innovation based on pre-commercial technologies with environmental potentials General proposals: The support for eco-innovation should be organised through
Supplementary proposals for the three technology areas: ICT: There is a need for more focus on the potentials and limits to intelligent products and applications and sensors as elements in an eco-efficiency strategy. Furthermore, there is a need for strategies to ensure focus on hazardous substances and materials and radiation in the development of products and components:
Biotechnology: There is a need for development of enzymes with eco-potentials for a broader variety of industrial processes. Furthermore, there is also a need for a strategy for the use of bio-mass as renewable resource:
Nanotechnology: There is a need for considerations about how the industrial up-take of nanoscience can be promoted, through existing industry and through new start-ups. A central barrier is lacking environmental competencies in the Danish nano community and lacking nano competencies among environmental experts and industry and the weak linkages between these groups:
Launch a Danish Green Innovation programme focused on key environmental themes and key product and consumption areas
Strengthen the role of environmental concerns in the further development of ETAP The Danish government should encourage and support
6.9.5 Regulating application areasRemove barriers to the dissemination of technology applications with environmental potentials General proposal: Where mature and market introduced technologies with environmental potentials are not taken up by potential users sector and product domain regulation should make present market, production and user regimes more environmentally oriented. Specific proposals for the three technology areas: ICT:
Biotechnology:
Nanotechnology:
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