The positive relationship between environmental sustainability, economic performance, and competitiveness is increasingly recognized by experts, yet the debate still continues. It is clear that technological development and institutional considerations play an important role in the transition of the economic system towards sustainability. In other words, technological change is a necessary, albeit insufficient, condition for achieving sustainability. Institutional changes, including changes in routines, social norms, formal regulations, and so on, are needed not only to induce the required technological changes, but also to encourage behavioural changes at all levels of society in more sustainable directions. The nature and scale of present-day environmental problems and the urgency for change has led to increasing application of the term “eco-innovation” in environmental management and policy. However, despite the promise of eco-innovations, the term is used in diverse contexts with different underlying connotations that diminish its practical value.
In my recent book, written with Pablo del Rio and Totti Könnölä, Eco-Innovation: When Sustainability and Competitiveness Shake Hands (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) a framework of analysis is proposed to address the management and governance of eco-innovations and identify the specific characteristics of various eco-innovation processes.[This research paper has been reproduced with permission of the authors, professors of IE Business School, Spain http://www.ie.edu/]
The article is very well written. However you have not touched upon social and cultural values which are very hard to change. How do you balance technology with social engineering?
on Nov 7, 2010