EPA's Innovation Strategy
In spring of 2001, Administrator Christine Todd Whitman asked senior
EPA managers to update the Agency's innovation agenda. Although EPA has
made significant progress in improving environmental quality over the
past 30 years, the Administrator recognizes the need for a broader set
of tools than we have relied upon in the past to address increasingly
complex problems such the continuing accumulation of greenhouse gases,
inadequate improvements in water quality, increasing problem of urban
smog, and inequities in building and maintaining water infrastructure.
 This
request for an updated innovation agenda launched a review of EPA's innovation
initiatives, reflection on EPA's extensive experience in addressing environmental
problems, careful consideration of recommendations from outside policy
groups, and discussions with the states and a variety of stakeholders.
The result of this year-long effort is EPA's new innovation strategy:
 Innovating
for Better Environmental Results: A Strategy
to Guide the Next Generation of Innovation at EPA (pdf 1.9mb)
Text-only version (pdf 67k)
Key
Actions (pdf 230k)
Get
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Memo
from Administrator to EPA staff (pdf 33K) about Innovation Strategy.
This strategy reflects EPA's commitment to explore new and creative ways
of achieving cleaner air, purer water, and better protected land, and
it provides EPA with a practical framework for encouraging innovative
solutions to environmental challenges. Key actions in this framework include
strengthening environmental partnerships, targeting priorities, expanding
the current collection of tools, and creating a more innovative culture
to effectively address challenging problems. We believe this strategy embodies the best opportunities for advancing
environmental progress, and provides concrete steps toward realizing a
stronger system of environmental protection for the future. EPA has begun
to identifying specific innovations or innovative activities that each
of our program and regional offices will undertake to support the strategy
goals. The attached document highlights 14 key actions, corresponding
to major strategy areas, that are currently planned or underway. (Please contact us if you have trouble
with the accessibility of these documents.)
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