Developments and Directions of Eco-innovation

Abstract

To achieve business sustainability, companies must perform a set of changes not only in their internal processes but also in the large-scale level of business ecosystems. This change of paradigm from individual to macro level requires an understanding of new drivers of innovation as a way to improve and look for new business dynamics, to minimize the negative environmental externalities, and to keep the economic performance of companies. This chapter aims to summarize recent developments and future trends of eco-innovation in theory and application from its usual forms of incremental to more radical and systematic innovation. A brief introduction of eco-innovation and a terminological foundation consisting of adequate definitions of specific or ambiguous terms are given. It illustrates how models and frameworks for eco-innovation and its applications can support the ecological business modernization and how it can promote win-win situations among the different stakeholders. Beyond this, the chapter introduces and discusses the various remaining chapters in this book and presents summaries, insights, and linkages among them.