DEMOS

Whether this will lead to an ‘I can’ politics, as David Miliband said recently, or ‘pro-social behaviour’ – thanks Matthew Taylor – is still up for debate. It all seems possible, but have we got proof? We know that people using last.fm get better music recommendations, and someone was willing to pay £140 million for the site just the other day.

We know we've got good intentions. together.com claims that people in the Orkneys will be saving 26,000 tonnes of CO2 - IF they keep their promises.We know that millions went to see An Inconvenient Truth. We know that people care about decisions that affect their behaviour and the climate, as evidenced by the 1.8 million signatures on the road-pricing petition.

But we have further to go to demonstrate that web 2.0 - and how it works - is more than a metaphor for a new kind of participatory politics. We get very excited by the potential of participation – from social entrepreneurs who demonstrate that the economy can work with our values, to interaction designers like DIY Kyoto who want everyone to have more information about their home energy use.

Contrast this with Hilary Clinton's "9-point plan to turn the United States around in its commitment to science, engineering, technology and math, and to upgrade the innovation infrastructure" which includes a $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund.

But we need both - big strategic investments and mass behaviour innovation. We'll be launching The Disrupters soon, about low-carbon innovation in the UK.