Commitment 18
“Eco-innovation”
I3U Project Meeting & Technical Workshop: Vienna, 14. & 15.09.2015
Sandra M. Leitner
This project is co-funded
by the European Union
Commitment 18
“By early 2011 the Commission will present an eco-innovation action plan
building on the Innovation Union and focusing on the specific bottlenecks,
challenges and opportunities for achieving environmental objectives through
innovation."
Rationale and Objectives
Specific policies and actions are needed to:
- accelerate uptake of eco-innovation
- remove barriers in order to promote, accelerate and diffuse eco-innovation in
society
Objectives
- Pretty vague; more strongly linked to awareness than to hard (quantifiable)
objectives
- Achieve environmentally and socially sustainable growth in the longer run
and, indirectly, economic recovery in the short-term
Solution: EcoAP (launched in December 2011 by EC)
7 measures to improve market uptake of EI:
- environmental policy & legislation as driver for eco-innovation (C15)
- support demonstration projects & partnering
- develop new standards (C16)
- financial instruments & support services for SMEs (C7)
- promote int’l co-operation
- support the development of emerging skills and jobs and related training
programs to match labour market needs
- promote eco-innovation through the European Innovation Partnerships (C29)
Related Literature - Summary
Drivers of EI (effects depend on type of technology considered):
- Regulations: (stringency of) regulations (very important); subsidies (less
important);
- Technology push: TC, cooperations & collaborations, cost-saving motive, EMS;
- Demand pull: expected future demand, expected increase in market shares,
customer benefit;
Economic effects of EI (by and large, positive!):
- Higher LP (effect of EI tends to be lower than for other innovations);
- Higher employment: positive for product eco-innovations, mixed for process
eco-innovations;
- Higher profits & sales growth;
Potential Indicators
Name
Source
Yearly coverage
Country coverage
GBOARD (by socio-economic
objective)
OECD
Up to 2014
OECD (plus RO)
ERDF (priority area:
environment)
DG-Regio
2000-13
EU-28
Eco-innovation inputs,
activities and outputs indices
Eco-Innovation
Scoreboard
2010-13
EU-28
Eco-patents
EPO
Orbis
Bureau van Dijk
Up to 2014
Worldwide
CIS-2008
Eurostat (CD or SC)
2006-08
All EU-28 but BE, DK, EL,
HR, AT, PL, UK
CIS-2014 (available mid2016)
Eurostat (CD or SC)
2012-14
not yet known
Flash Eurobarometer No. 315
EC
Survey year: 2011
EU-27 (5.222 SMEs)
EU-28
Direct Impact Assessment – Approach
Barriers and Effects of Eco-Innovations
Firm-level:
LP: CIS-2014, extended CDM-model: differentiate between eco- and non-ecoinnovators;
Employment: CIS-2014, modified Harrison et al. (2008) approach;
Macro-level (necessary?):
Growth – another growth equation: with indices from the Eco-Innovation
Scoreboard as additional controls;
Commitment Map – C18
Commitment’s rationale
Achieve environmental objectives
through innovation
Accelerate market
uptake of ecoinnovation & remove
financial, economic
and institutional
barriers to promote,
accelerate and
diffuse ecoinnovation in society
Coordinated policy
approach able to
tackle failures in the
eco-innovation
system, create long
term favourable
conditions for ecoinnovation through
intervention at a
wider EU policy level
Solution
EcoAP (2011)
7 measures to
improve market uptake:
•environmental
policy & legislation as
driver for ecoinnovation (C15)
•support demonstration projects &
partnering
•develop new standards (C16)
•financial instruments & support
services for SMEs (C7)
•promote int’l cooperation
•support the development of emerging
skills and jobs and
related training
programs to match
labour market needs
•promote eco-innovation through the
European Innovation
Partnerships (C29)
Main impact channels
Main types of impact
Regulatory pull/push
•Market-based
(taxes, subsidies,
tradable permits etc.)
•Regulatory instruments (standards)
Economic
•Stimulate eco-innovations (eco-R&D, green jobs)
•Improved market uptake
of eco-innovations
•More green-HC & knowledge
Technology push
•Technological
capabilities
•More intense
national & int’l
cooperation &
knowledge transfer
•Better eco-innov.
financing
Demand pull
•Increased environmental consciousness
& market demand
Social
Higher environmental
awareness in society
Addresses some of the
EU’s key societal
challenges like:
•Climate change, resource
efficiency
•Secure, clean & efficient
energy
•Smart, green & integrated
transport
Environmental
•Reduced impact on
environment (e.g. risk,
pollution etc.)
•Higher resource efficiency
of increasingly scarce
resources (materials,
energy etc.)
Indicators
Input measures
•Eco-R&D exp.
•Eco-investments
•No of green jobs
Intermediate
measures
•Eco-patents
•Scientific publications
•Citations
•No of coop-projects
Output measures
•No of eco-product,
process, organizational innovations
Outcome
Competitiveness
(productivity,
exports, market
shares)
Eco-innovation
GDP
Employment
Open questions
• What particular indicator is most useful for NEMESIS?
• CIS-2014 will only be available mid-2016
• Impact on what exactly? Output growth and employment?