A State-Powered Green Revolution

Better mechanisms for storing and releasing energy generated from renewable sources are the next step to building a green future. And it is the public sector that is leading the way in developing effective solutions, according to Mariana Mazzucato, Professor of the Economics of Innovation at the Science Policy Research Unit of the University of Sussex.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), part of the US Department of Energy, last week announced that it had achieved a breakthrough in battery technology to make it more commercially viable. This comes even as entrepreneurial billionaires like Bill Gates and Elon Musk are working to do the same.

While the private sector has long been regarded as an economy’s most important source of innovation, history’s great entrepreneurial figures have frequently stood on the shoulders of the entrepreneurial state, says Mazzucato. Hear more about her views on the state’s role in the green revolution here.

By : Eco-Business