Accelerating energy innovation could be an important part of an effective response to the threat of climate change. Written by a stellar group of experts in the field, this book complements existing research on the subject with an exploration of the role that public and private policy have played in enabling—and sustaining—swift innovation in a variety of industries, from agriculture and the life sciences to information technology. Chapters highlight the factors that have determined the impact of past policies, and suggest that effectively managed federal funding, strategies to increase customer demand, and the enabling of aggressive competition from new firms are important ingredients for policies that affect innovative activity.

Rebecca M. Henderson is the Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management at Harvard Business School and a research associate of the NBER. Richard G. Newell is Administrator of the US Energy Information Administration, on leave from both the NBER and Duke University, where he is the Gendell Associate Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics.