Leading European industrialists believe the future of manufacturing on the continent will increasingly revolve around green products, often backed by government subsidies.
Although Europe already has a leading position in wind and solar power, thanks to government help, chief executives from across the region have told the Financial Times they expect this to extend into other areas.
Peter L?scher, head of Siemens, Europe's largest engineering group, which is targeting €25bn ($37bn) of green sales by 2011, said: “The green revolution has started and by 2020 green technology will have surpassed the car industry as well as the engineering sector in Germany.”