Global R&D Fund
Global Project
In the 1980s, mobile phones cost thousands, were the size of your head, and could only support minutes of call time. Since then, research and development (R&D) has helped improve mobile phone technology, making it more reliable and cheaper. This has led more people to buy phones. In turn, companies have invested in R&D to beat rivals in supplying more phones and to build the infrastructure that ensures mobiles can be used in more places. This virtuous cycle has led to cheap, reliable mobile phones being available across the world.
The same dynamics exist with clean technologies, such as solar panels and wind power. The role of governments has been key. They have poured large and consistent amounts of money into funding R&D for renewables technology, particularly in the USA, China, and Europe. This has led solar power to become the cheapest form of electricity in history, in all regions of the world.
A coordinated effort by governments and companies around the world to invest in R&D could lead to other clean technologies rapidly improving and collapsing in price. This could be financed in part by reducing the huge subsidies for fossil fuels that give dirty technologies an advantage over clean alternatives.
To activate this Global Project, any player may tuck any number of cards with Innovation tags under this card.
Once active: For each tucked card discarded from under here, one player draws 3 Local Project cards, then adds 1 of their choice to their hand, and discards the rest.
Support the Bridgetown Initiative put forward by Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados.
Campaign against fossil fuel subsidies by your government .
Retrain to contribute to research and development in ecologically-safe systems and technologies.