Weekly Intelligence Brief
Extra £20m in government-backed venture capital support
7 October 2009
Clean energy technologies will have access to an extra £20 million in government-backed venture capital support in the UK.
The initiative from the government holds significance considering that it is counting on green energy technologies as part of its plans to meet its long term climate change goals. It has decided to intervene and support areas where market capital isn’t coming forward. The government is sustaining its support to reduce the gap as speedily as possible.
It was also highlighted that advancements in technologies such as wave and tidal are dependent on a mixture of R&D grant support and venture capital, but the flow of private money for early stage development has fallen back since the downturn started in 2008. As a result, companies in this sector are finding it harder to respond to the new opportunities , or to bring their innovations to market quickly. The role of venture capital in innovation and commercialisation of new low carbon technologies more than doubled between 2003 and 2007.
This £20 million allocation is the latest instalment out of the £405 million marked for investment in low carbon technologies announced in the Budget. Up to £300 million has already been allocated to support key low carbon technologies including up to £120 million for the development of offshore wind technologies and up to £60 million to accelerate the development and deployment of wave and tidal energy in the UK.
Read more:
Up to £60m to capitalise on Britain’s wave and tidal sector strengths
Carbon Trust report outlines how UK can lead the world in clean tech revolution
Support for tidal energy in UK’s latest Budget package
http://social.tidaltoday.com/news/support-tidal-energy-uk%E2%80%99s-latest-budget-package
