Transcript Title Title Title Title June 13, 2006 Peter George Ken

The Institutionalization of Clean Tech:
An emergent field
Benson Honig
Teresa Cascioli Chair in Entrepreneurial
Leadership; McMaster University, Hamilton
Ontario
Institutionalization: Why should we
care?
 Much research on technology clusters examines successful
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environments, attempting to draw conclusions
This success bias has inspired a plethora of industry in the
production of “silicon XX’s”, including“ glenns”, vadies,
alleys, etc…
Due to this success bias, we know less about the
implications for emergent clusters, problems, and possible
negative consequences of cluster seeding efforts
Questions: “how does the institutionalization of government
economic policy emerge, and what are the resulting
consequences?” “To what extent is policy driven by
pragmatism, opportunism, political rhetoric, research, public
opinion, desperation or expediancy?”
Institutionalization
 Much work has been done examining the isomorphism
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of institutions such as education, science,
development, fads and fashions
Research regarding the success or failure of public
initiatives and economic development is quite mixed,
but provides little guidance for emergent technologies
Less work has been done examining the emergence of
new clusters in real time, particularly as a specific
target of governmental (regional, national, local)
targeted development
Comparative research
 Powell et al did a study examining high-tech cluster in
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the life sciences retrospectively
They looked retrospectively at 11 clusters at 3 points in
time: 1990; 1996; 2002
They found government policies were important to
cluster formation
Best results when region pursued open norms of
scientific research. Public research or universities
served as cluster anchor
Comparative research
 Each of their different clusters had unique path dependent
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trajectories – but only 3 were successful, and it would have
been virtually impossible to predict which would succeed
Interfirm collaboration was essential in the successful
clusters (Boston, Bay Area, San Diego) – in San Diego, an
official network provided great help- in Silicon Valley,
Stanford helped- virtuous ties of local first, other clusters
second, and global linkages last.
Local ties were sparse in non-successful regions. Instead,
they developed external (to region) linkages, and were
dominated by one very strong local organization.
High Growth regions had both local and global ties
Top cleantech countries*
*Shawn Lesser founder and president of Sustainable
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1 Denmark
2 Germany
3Sweden
4 UK
5 Israel
6 Switzerland
7 USA
8 UAE
9 China
10 Canada
World Capital
Canada’s strategy
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Canada has jumped fully into the clean-tech pond.
“on many fronts, there are high hopes that Ontario's clean technology will become an
important contributor to Ontario’s economy ( OCF, 2009:17).
“Global demand for clean technologies such as alternative energy generation
technologies……has grown substantially in the past few yeas….spurred by increasing
energy and water costs, targets set by international agreements such as the Kyoto protocol
the desire for energy self-sufficiency, and the public’s call for cleaner, more
environmentally sustainable means of living, the demand for clean technologies will see
rapid and sustained growth for the next several years. This demand is likely to increase as
governments around the world now look to stimulate their economies through investments
in infrastructure and clean technologies. (Group, 2009)
To create a knowledge advantage, Canada’s federal government will focus strategically on
research in areas that are in the national interest from a social and economic perspective.
The four area are : Environmental science and technologies; natural resources and energy;
health and related life sciences and technologies; information and communication
technology (Public works and government services, 2007). Chapter entitled “improving
Canadians’ lives and opportunities through science and technology: federal government is
encouraging environmental innovation by : creating clear and effective policy frameworks
for the environment: 2) creating the ecoenergy technology initiative 3) supporting
collaborative research initiatives to improve the recovery of energy and 4) creating the
Canada trust for Clean Air and Climate Change to support projects.
in 2008 there were over 2,600 Ontario companies generating 7 billion employing 65,000
people a year, 7 billion in revenue. The majority are engineering firms .(group:23).
Wind Technology: Goal to become a global wind energy leader that meets more than 20%
of its electricity needs through wind energy by 2025 (Canada). Goals include the creation
of at least 52,000 jobs, 1.5 billion in annual business activity, 132 billion in investment.
In a chapter entitled “making Canada a
World Leader”
 “it is no longer enough for countries to support S&T
only from a national perspective. Canada must be
connected to the global supply of ideas, talent and
technologies….Canada and the state of California have
embarked on a strategic partnership to achieve worldclass research strength in areas such as cancer stem
cell research, infectious diseases, sustainable energy,
and ICT broadband. Strategic international and intersectoral collaboration among governments,
researchers, industry and investors is pointing the way
toward new approaches to positioning Canada as a
global R&D innovation leader (Public works and
government services, 2007)”
More promises
 NDP promises to spend 8 billion over 4 years: 4 billion
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for auto sector, 3 billion for green collar jobs
Liberals promise 1 billion advanced manufacturing
prosperity fund for green tech
Conservatives (Current Harper Government) created 1
billion eco-trust fund (SDTC), also 230 million to induce
clean-energy policies
Canada’s perspective
 A higher share of electricity is generated in Canada by
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renewable sources than almost anywhere else. How
will this effect EV development?
Calls have been made to invest in energy storage
devices, promote development of charging
infrastructure, create regulation and standardization,
harmonize in North Am,,legislate building codes, and
convert used vehicles to electrification
Orientation of this study
 Will employ institutional theory to comparatively examine the
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emergence of specific clean-tech clusters around
automobile conversion
The automobile industry is notable both for its role in
industrialization (oligopoly) and job creation, as well as the
implications of a technological paradigm shift. Rust-belt
environments are competing heavily to capture technological
renewal. Ontario produces more cars than any US state (2.7
million in 2004). Big 3, Honda, Toyota
How do regional and national programs impact, both
positively and negatively, the emergence of new clean-tech
models? To what extent are these path dependent?
One possible additional Target
 Shai Agassi’s better place: how will the four
demonstration regions (Denmark, Israel, Australia;
future Canada, USA, France)
 How do strategic partners and investor alliances
constrast or compare with governmental policies?
 A123 Systems;Acorns to Oaks II;AGL;Automotive
Energy Supply Corporatio;DONG Energy;Esarbee
Investments Canada;GC Investments LLC;Hawaiian
Electric Company;HSBC;Israel Cleantech Ventures
;Israel Corp.;Lazard;Macquarie Capital;Maniv Energy
Capital;Morgan Stanley ;Musea Ventures ;Ofer Group
;Renault-Nissan Alliance;VantagePoint Venture
Partners;Vayikra Partners;Wolfensohn & Co.