Elson Solutions attended the Green Industrial Conference organized by Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans in Tirana, bringing together policymakers, experts, and practitioners to discuss the future of green industrial policy in the region.
At Elson Solutions, we welcome seeing industrial policy return clearly and decisively to the policy agenda – in precisely the form this era demands: green, innovation-driven, and future-oriented.
Core Pillars of Green Industrial Policy
Through our work, Elson Solutions consistently supports two foundational pillars of effective industrial policy:
- Strong public investment in education and R&D, spanning both basic research and advanced applied research;
- Support for companies’ competitiveness, enabling them not only to adopt new technologies, but also to develop and scale their own innovations.
The discussion reaffirmed that innovation-led growth does not happen by chance. Leading innovation economies, such as the United States, were built on decades of aggressive public R&D investment, particularly up to the 1970s, before private-sector R&D began to dominate.
Laying the Foundations for Innovation
The key message is clear: market forces alone are not enough. Governments must first establish solid foundations—high-quality education systems, strong absorption capacity, and innovation infrastructure. Only then can entrepreneurial dynamics and private investment deliver sustainable and competitive growth.
As green transition accelerates globally, industrial policy is no longer only about competitiveness—it is about economic resilience, technological sovereignty, and long-term development.
Elson Solutions remains committed to advancing green industrial policy, supporting innovation ecosystems, and contributing to policy dialogue that aligns sustainability with economic transformation in the Western Balkans and beyond.
