In addition, collaboration between private and public spheres is well developed. Innovation policy involves many public and private actors, notably through the development of innovation alliances to coordinate and support joint research. The share of government expenditure on R&D financed by industry was more than twice the OECD average (9.3% vs. 3.8%) and the same holds for higher education expenditure on R&D (15.1% vs. 6.4%). For instance, the German Environmental Innovation Programme supports large scale demonstration projects in the heat and electricity sectors by providing soft loans.