4 Four ecosystem pillars There is no shortage of potential innovation activity when it comes to sustainable PLFs. We anticipate that delivery of our nine priorities will catalyse a vibrant collaborative research and innovation ecosystem. This is essential to enabling industry-wide transition and would comprise four pillars :
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2023 Ambition: sustainable PLFs
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THE KNOWLEDGE BASE A healthy innovation and research ecosystem requires fundamental research and a healthy skills base. Universities and research institutes have a role to play in expanding curricula to equip students to pursue research and careers in sustainable PLFs. This includes contextualising existing teaching within broader sustainability issues, promoting multidisciplinary research and enhancing skills and training in lifecycle analysis, which are currently lacking in the UK.
COLLABORATIONS Achieving the transition to sustainable PLFs will require new networks Within industry, there is considerable scope for more pre-competitive collaboration to speed up innovation, for example sharing findings about polymers that have been tested and found to be ineffective. Equally, industry will need to partner with academia and with organisations that have important and mechanisms to enable collaboration. expertise or influence on the wider PLFs field such as the OECD, the Ellen Macarthur Foundation and BSI.
APPLIED RESEARCH AND INNOVATION Applied research and innovation is essential to develop solutions that can be marketed and delivered at scale. Investment is needed across the Five F problem areas (see pages 23-27) and solutions must be designed and evaluated in a way that considers their lifecycle impact. Industry will be the driving force in developing new products and services, but there may also be a role for public services, such as recycling facilities.
POLICY AND REGULATION Policy, regulation, governance and standards can play a powerful role in catalysing and supporting safe and effective innovation. For example, articulating and mandating minimum sustainability standards for PLFs could level the commercial playing field, incentivise innovation, increase accountability and influence consumer behaviour. Industry and government need to work together to enable regulation and policy to keep up with a rapidly developing area of scientific knowledge and industry practice.
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