Slow technologies and government intervention: Energy efficiency in industrial process technologies

Many government interventions seek to increase the efficiency of industrial processes and to stimulate innovation. In this article we present and analyse four case studies of innovations in energy-efficient industrial process technologies: two in the paper and pulp industry and two in the iron and steel industry. We study the various networks around these technologies and investigate how they are affected by government intervention. An important relationship (an inverted U) is found between the momentum of the networks and the effectiveness of government R&D support for energy-efficient process technologies. It is concluded that R&D support can only be effective when it takes account of the characteristics of so-called ‘slow technologies’.