(The) emergence of green chemistry and the triple-helix of academia, industry, and government

Abstract

Green chemistry is a new scientific field which focuses on the design, manufacture, and use of chemical processes that could prevent pollution and at the same time improve yield efficiency. Since its creation in 1991, green chemistry marked a radical departure from previous EPA initiatives in emphasizing the prevention of pollution instead of cleaning it up after the fact. The few who have written on the emergence of green chemistry have not shed light on the political and economic motivations of green chemistry. As a new study of the emergence of green chemistry, this paper focuses on the triple helix of academia-industry-government which has been critical in the emergence of green chemistry. This article shows the relationship among governmental environmental policy, industrial participation, and academic activities by green chemists to deliberate on the implications of the emergence of green chemistry. This paper argues that academia, industry and government created a common ground during the emergence of green chemistry under the common goal of sustainable development. Green chemists produced the knowledge to improve the synthetic efficiency to prevent pollution, and the chemical industry used green chemistry research to increase the economic profitability of production system. This specific form of alliance was supported and maintained amid a changing national environmental policy toward pollution prevention and a self-regulatory framework. The story of green chemistry shows the exemplary case that confrontational triple helix entities could make the common ground by making a new scientific field.