Ecological Innovation Efforts and Performances: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The negative effects caused by global warming and climate change have increased the need for production technologies in decreasing environmental costs. This need has brought up the eco-innovation concept. Eco-innovation policies are the main priority of the European Union in ensuring a sustainable development and in the process of cyclical economy transformation. This chapter aims to investigate the relative eco-innovation efforts and performances of the European Union countries. In order to measure the eco-innovation performances of community members by the European Union, “eco-innovation index” has been published by calculating eco-innovation scoreboard since 2010. The 16 indicators gathered from different data sources are grouped into five thematic areas (eco-innovation inputs, eco-innovation activities, eco-innovation outputs, resource efficiency outputs and socioeconomic outputs). These variables indicate the efforts and performances of the European Union countries in terms of eco-innovation. In other words, eco-innovation inputs and eco-innovation activities are used as a proxy for eco-innovation efforts. Eco-innovation outputs, resource efficiency outputs and socioeconomic outputs are used as a proxy eco-innovation performance. Cluster analysis and discriminant analysis were used to determine the relative eco-innovation efforts and performances of the European Union countries. The results show that EU countries have different performance levels in terms of eco-innovation efforts.