Handbook on Innovation, Society and the Environment

Through careful investigation into the role of eco-innovation as a catalysing factor in the societal transition towards sustainability, this Handbook proposes more appropriate measures of innovation as a driver of change. It examines innovation from various perspectives, including labour, trade, the circular economy and energy, to illustrate a more comprehensive picture of its impacts.

Chapters by leading authors from the sectors of eco-innovation, sustainability transformations and green and circular economies provide a meticulously balanced observation of innovation at local, regional, national and global scales. By featuring case studies from across Australasia, Europe and Latin America, as well as empirical work and modelling exercises, this forward-thinking Handbook links innovation to a range of interconnected topics. It imparts new evidence to offer a succinct conclusion about the potential success of certain innovation and green industrial policies.

This enlightening Handbook will be valuable for scholars and academics studying economics and management, economic and social innovation, and environmental policy. It will also be of great benefit for those analysing policy and industry professionals looking to learn more about eco-innovation.

Editors: Fernando J. Diaz Lopez (EIT CKIC), Massimiliano Mazzanti (University of Ferrara) and Roberto Zoboli (Catholic University of Milan)

Publication date:  October, 2023

Link to Publisher (Edward Elgar)

Download Table of Contents

Download List of Contributors

Table of contents

PART I INTRODUCTION
1 Towards a sustainable, circular, innovative and socially fair economy: an introduction 2
Fernando J. Díaz López, Massimiliano Mazzanti and Roberto Zoboli 

Download Chapter 1

PART II ECO-INNOVATION AND POLICIES
2 How will the European Green Deal impact research and innovation? 24
Jesús Alquézar Sabadie

3 Developing a green industrial policy for the European Green Deal 36
Simone Tagliapietra and Reinhilde Veugelers

4 The mediating role of export in the innovation–growth nexus: the case of eco-innovation 51
Serenella Caravella, Francesco Crespi, Mirko Menghini and Salvatore Monni

5 The impact of the open eco-innovation mode on employment: the case of Italian network business agreements 67
Andrea Fabrizi, Giulio Guarini and Valentina Meliciani

6 Barriers to eco-innovation and public R&D incentives: evidence from Mexico 84
Fernando J. Díaz López, Diana P. Rivera Delgado and Daniel H. Villavicencio Carbajal

PART III ECO-INNOVATIONS IN CITIES, REGIONS AND THE GLOBALISED ECONOMY

7 The importance of regional spill-over effects for eco-innovations in German start-ups 110
Jens Horbach

8 Firms’ global value chain participation and its environmental performance: a review of the empirical literature 125
Finn Ole Semrau

9 The geography of green technological invention: a life cycle perspective 140
Nicolò Barbieri, Davide Consoli and François Perruchas

10 Smart cities: components and elements in the Brazilian context 153
Beatriz Barreto Brasileiro Lanza and Carlos Olavo Quandt

PART IV INNOVATION AND SOCIETY

11 Inclusive innovation: towards a theory of inclusiveness transitions 167
R. Sandra Schillo and Parag Puri

12 Frugal innovation as a new technological paradigm for inclusion and sustainability 182
Christian Le Bas

13 Energy innovations in iwi communities of Aotearoa New Zealand 196
Ryan Roberts, Alan C. Brent, James T. Hinkley and Kevin Shedlock

PART V INNOVATION AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

14 A conceptual framework for the analysis of policy mixes on the Circular Economy 212
Pablo del Río, Christoph P. Kiefer and Javier Carrillo-Hermosilla

15 Circular innovation strategies: which direction for Italian firms? 238
Elisa Chioatto and Emy Zecca

16 Policies of bioeconomy and circular economy in Latin America: a route toward sustainability 251
Graciela Carrillo Gonzalez and Jose Ignacio Ponce Sanchez

PART VI SYSTEMS OF INNOVATIONS AND SUSTAINABILITY TRANSITIONS

17 Exploring the virtuous interdependencies existing between climate action and sustainability in the context of low-carbon development 281
Georg Pallaske, Andrea Marcello Bassi, Leonardo Garrido and Marco Guzzetti

18 A practical approach to managing technology within the context of sustainability transitions 309
Imke H. de Kock and Alan C. Brent

19 Labour market implications for the sustainable transition 345
Giovanni Marin and Francesco Vona

20 Innovative measure of urban sustainability: potentialities and weaknesses of the ‘Mandala SDG’ 358
Pedro Luiz Pierucci, Feni Agostinho, Cecília Maria Villas Bôas de Almeida and Biagio F. Giannetti