Gates Launches Energy-Innovation Fund
November 30 2015 - 6:30AM
Dow Jones News
PARIS—Bill Gates announced an energy research initiative drawing
on more than $1 billion from 28 private investors, ranging from
billionaire individuals to the University of California, to try to
grow businesses from ideas generated by stepped-up government basic
research.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal at a global climate
conference in Paris, the founder of Microsoft Corp. and leading
philanthropist said 20 governments—including the U.S., China and
India—have committed to double their energy research budgets as
part of the initiative.
"We need innovation to get to breakthrough solutions," said Mr.
Gates. "These are investors who care about clean energy and cheap
energy."
Mr. Gates said the goal is to dramatically speed up the
commercialization of basic research and developments that
governments around the world conduct.
"There's a sense of urgency, because of the time frame once
you've invented something to get it to be a part of the primary
global energy system," he said.
"If you have a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050,
you'd better be inventing in this next decade in order to have time
to shift over the global energy system. Usually it takes 50 years.
We have to move faster than that," he added.
Write to Bill Spindle at bill.spindle@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 30, 2015 06:15 ET (11:15 GMT)
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