Parliamentary State Secretary Astrid Klug counting on German and European environmental technology
Environmental policy and environmental technology play an increasingly important role in times of crisis. At the opening of the European Forum on Eco-Innovation in Berlin, Astrid Klug, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Environment Ministry, said today: "In no time at all the financial crisis has impacted on the real economy. Countries with high export volumes such as Germany are particularly hit. However, in a market which is characterised by a continuously growing demand for eco-efficient goods, the extraordinary technical expertise and innovative power of German and European environmental technology businesses will, in the long run, prove to be a competitive advantage."
On the sidelines of the "Water Berlin" fair representatives from industry, science and politics from all over Europe gathered for two days to discuss the opportunities and challenges of environmental technology transfer in times of crisis. Astrid Klug made a reference to the dramatically changed framework conditions for technology transfers.
The Federal Government took measures to trigger environmental innovations in research, science and industry and to support new strategic cooperation activities between industry and academia. The Federal Research and the Federal Environment Ministries jointly initiated the environmental technology master plan with the intention of pooling, linking and further developing the experience and strategies for action. The purpose of the plan is to support and boost environmental technology as lead a market.
Background:
The European Forum on Eco-Innovation was established as a stakeholder forum by the European Commission in 2006 on the basis of the Environmental Technologies Action Plan (ETAP). It was conceived as a platform for bringing together perspectives from industry, science and politics on specific topics, sound out strategic concepts for environmental innovations and draft recommendations for political decision makers at European and member state level.