Government to co-ordinate green car R&D

The government has unveiled an initiative designed to encourage car manufacturers to better collaborate on green technology projects and ensure their research and development projects do not overlap.

The Low Carbon Vehicles Integrated Delivery Programme will launch in the autumn and will be run by the UK's Technology Strategy Board, a government-backed body designed to promote UK R&D.

The programme is to receive £70m in government funding, as well as fresh investment from regional development agencies and the private sector.

A spokesman for the Technology Strategy Board said that the initiative would aim to encourage greater collaboration between automotive companies working on the development of low carbon vehicles and better co-ordinate different R&D projects to limit duplication and speed up delivery to market.

He downplayed suggestions that car manufacturers would regard much of their green R&D as valuable intellectual property (IP) and as such could prove reluctant to share research with potential competitors. He argued instead that feedback from the industry had revealed "a willingness to co-operate" on such projects, as well as strong support for the initiative's goal of greater knowledge transfer.

He added that IP issues would be managed within each collaborative partnership agreement to ensure parties share the outputs of each project and jointly exploit the results.

The announcement comes as the government last week confirmed it is to invest £23m in 16 green car projects as part of its strategy to accelerate the development of low carbon vehicles.

The projects are to involve a wide range of automotive technology firms, including Ford, Lotus, Jaguar and Land Rover, and will cover a variety of different technologies, such as fuel cells, hybrid battery systems, and improved aerodynamic and lightweight chassis designs.

Science and innovation minister Ian Pearson said that the funding would help position UK firms to "benefit from the growing domestic and international demand for lower carbon vehicles".