Influence on the direction of search

There are a number of incentives and pressures (see Figure 15) that influence the direction of search towards the Green ICT TIS in the region. It is difficult to pinpoint that the factors found actually direct the influence of search specifically towards the Gothenburg region, in fact many of the interviewees state that other regions might be an as strong candidate for Green ICT and that it rather is Sweden in general that is the point of interest. However, the belief in growth potential is strongly articulated by the companies in the study that are active in the region.

20 _{Interview with Birger Ekengren, Great} 21 _{Interview with researcher, Viktoria Institute}

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Figure 15: Pressures and incentives influencing the direction of search.

Environmental laws and taxes will most likely have a positive effect for the business since the products and services they sell reduce the environmental impact. Many of the companies work with energy efficient products or products that decrease the carbon dioxide and/or NOx emissions. Today there is a refunded emission payment on NOx and for carbon dioxide there is a limit of how much you are allowed to emit (tradable permits). Some argue that green solutions needs policy instruments such as regulations and taxes to be competitive on the market. If products will be marked with their individual Carbon Footprint the whole economy is ought to change, and people will not accept products that are not produced in an energy efficient way23_. Others say that policy instruments could be a way, but it is more about habits – that one needs to stimulate new habits not just by rules, to make people realise what it is all about is better than to force them.

Companies get interested thanks to that one can save money by investing in Green ICT, the pay- off time is short and one can thus make savings during crises by investing in technology. Due to the climate change, social climate and the need to use energy more efficiently Green ICT is highly prioritised. The interest have increased and also the knowledge about how ICT can be used24_. In the future there will probably be less need to invent new technology; instead there will be an improvement of already existing technology. In the software business especially there are many possible improvements.25 _{One can also see that ICT have matured and companies now see it as a} supporting tool instead of just a cost.

The financial crises have affected Western Sweden really hard, especially the automotive industry and its subcontractors (Andersson, 2009). Many of the Green ICT companies were affected since they work in this market. But some of them still came out stronger, after the

23 _{Interview with CEO, Prospero}

24 _{Interview with Public Affairs Expert, Swedish IT and Telecom Industries} 25 _{Interview with CEO, Capee Group}

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crises, than they were before. The automotive industry is in great need for new solutions and here the Green ICT companies have a role to fill. In general, the companies believe that the future is bright and that there is a need to expand. Even if it has been a financial crisis recently several of the companies in the study still have managed to grow and/or show black figures.

Since Green ICT and ICT overall often is a new market, many of the companies were founded very close to or during the crises, so they do not know if they have been affected or not by the economic instability. They have in many cases been growing but maybe not as fast as they would have been with a more stable financial situation. Some companies were affected very little or not at all. One of the companies was affected neither of this crisis nor of the dot-com bubble 2000. There are also companies that have grown thanks to the financial crisis. Due to the crisis many companies needed to save money and did so by using video conferences instead of travelling. This had positive effect for the companies that sell products and services within that market26_. There are also other solutions like process optimising software and services that decrease a company’s administrative costs that might have been positively affected.

Due to the financial turbulence, many in the ICT business lost their jobs. Therefore there are many unemployed people with valuable knowledge that may be forced to leave the industry.27 The large number of layoffs of engineers related to the automotive business will also influence the character of the labour market.

Questions have been raised if there is a market for Green ICT here28 _{but then again, among the} companies in the study the home market is assessed as an important one. The Gothenburg region has a good reputation for being well organised in working with environmental technology29 _{demonstrated by initiatives such as Eco-ex.}