Countries Comparison

Eco-innovation and support for innovation – comparative analysis of the status in regions participating in the Medossic project

The Medossic project includes nine participating partners from five EU Member States (Slovenia, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Greece) and Croatia and Montenegro, which have combined efforts for the purpose of strengthening strategic cooperation among economic development actors, representatives of state institutions and other organizations which in some manner contribute to encouraging innovation in the regions included in the project. Activities are particularly focused on establishing an innovative environment for sustainable development and support of so-called eco-innovation and innovative processes for the management thereof. Eco-innovation represents all types of innovative activities focused at a significant improvement of environmental protection. Eco-innovation includes new production processes, new products or services, and new management and business methods, the use or implementation of which is likely to prevent or substantially reduce risks to the environment, pollution and any other negative impact of the use of resources throughout the lifecycle of related activities.

Among the first activities the partners undertook to achieve their set objective was the preparation of analyses of the state of eco-innovation and support thereof by individual regions participating in the project. A comparative analysis was prepared based on these analyses and in cooperation with the Jožef Stefan Institute, whose summary is presented in continuation.

Although it is characteristic that the regions participating in the project differ considerably from each other (size, population, national and regional GDP, history, culture, etc.), they also possess several similarities. The Mediterranean environment is known for tourism and agriculture, which on the one hand present problems for sustainable development in these regions and on the other provide an opportunity to attain sustainable development objectives also in the area of innovation. Regardless of the diverse and numerous characteristics of the participating regions (see Table 1), a key characteristic found was the somewhat lag in innovation activities in the regions. A minor polarisation between the economies of more developed regions (Malaga, the Marche, and Ferrara and Ravenna regions) and those with somewhat weaker (but not poorly) developed regions (Inner-Karst, Coastal Karst and south-eastern regions of Slovenia, Cyprus, Greece and Croatia) participating in the projects was observed, however it is evident that the aforementioned regions are lagging behind the EU 25 and particularly with respect to Japan and the USA. The gap can especially be observed in the areas of patents and investments into ICT, in the decreased percentage of employees in medium and high-tech production organisations, and investments of funds by the private sector into research and development.

A high degree of awareness regarding the importance of both ecological questions and problems connected to encouraging and ensuring sustainable development and the significance of innovation and innovations in general can be observed with regard to national and regional policies and the arising attitude towards eco-innovation. On the declarative level, none of the regions studied deviated from the actual European policy and resulting political instruments. At the same time, a large gap between the existing policy and their actual implementation exists in all participating regions. Problems regarding the coordination of activities on the national levels and connection of the areas of ecology and innovation are particularly evident. As a rule, different state and other organisations are responsible for each of these areas on the national level while a noted weakness represents the lack of affiliation and cooperation among these organisations. Another problem apparent in several of the participating regions (e.g. Slovenia, Italy and to a certain extent also Spain) is also the fragmented organisational structures of the aforementioned organisations, leading to incomplete treatment of individual problems, with planned activities for resolving the problems treated only completed to a small degree. The implementation of such activities in all participating regions is strongly influenced by EU politics (in the form of political directives and to a large extent, also by financial initiatives within EU funds), particularly apparent in the areas of innovations and innovation.

A review of national and regional programmes, projects and other initiatives implemented in the past in the area of eco-innovation and support shows that the latter is for the most part implemented separately for the areas of ecology and innovation, and rarely are such programmes or initiatives directly oriented towards encouraging eco-innovation. An increase in the awareness of the meaning of eco-innovation has been noticed in all regions, however the effectiveness of programmes, projects and other activities relating to eco-innovation and support among the regions is quite different and to a great degree, also dependant on the relationship between national and regional levels in individual countries and the roles they play in the region decisions on nationally significant questions. Affiliation among the various factors influencing the increase in eco-innovation and whose group knowledge and experiences are conditional for effective implementation of individual programmes and projects have also been observed as an important factor of success in implementing such programmes. This at the same time also represents departure points on which the Medossic project is being built.

Industry and production, followed by trade and construction activities rank as some of the most important sectors identified on the individual regional level (based on their contribution to the regional GDP). Tourism, real estate and commercial services also play a significant role especially in the coastal regions. These activities seen from their eco-innovation potential are seen as those with the most perspective, especially in terms of product and service innovation, followed by innovation in environmental technologies and green-system technologies. Organisational eco-innovation is also seen as promising (see Table 2) in Cyprus, the Marche region in Italy and south-eastern Slovenia. Findings showed the areas offering the greatest opportunities for the development of eco-innovation to be eco-tourism, sustainable energy sources and waste management.

A SWOT analysis was also prepared based on a review of the situation in all regions, which highlights the following strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the regions included in the Medossic project:

• One of the greatest opportunities in the region is certainly the awareness of the meaning of affiliation and cooperation between the private sector and institutions of knowledge and those focused at research and development. This regards an element which must be encouraged in the future, and to ensure support for promoting such activities it is necessary to focus more attention on the exchange of best practices among those possessing more experience in the area of eco-innovation and encouragement thereof and those still novices in this area. Furthermore, support in the search for funds which will facilitate innovative processes and at the same time encourage and maintain awareness of the meaning of eco-innovation must be ensured.
• A lack of funds for the completion of innovative processes and accelerated penetration of eco-innovations on the market were identified as weaknesses. This especially regards non-reconciled awareness of the meaning of eco-innovation by organisations, companies and also countries in terms of consumers, because of which one can often notice a non-reconciled organisational structure for research and development of market needs within companies, the generators of eco-innovations. This is particularly important from the aspect of encouraging eco-innovation for an important activity of entities for encouraging eco-innovation is also the encouragement of innovators to adopt a market principle way of thinking (both companies and individuals).
• The latter points to an additional opportunity for the development of eco-innovation in the regions included in the Medossic project: namely encouraging awareness of the meaning of eco-innovation and more broadly, eco-products and services among consumers. This is one of the elements which have a long-term effect on the decisions of economic subjects, encouraging eco-innovation on the national and also regional and local levels. It is necessary to focus more attention on directing the perceptions of the general public, i.e. consumers, using PR campaigns and various communication tools, media, etc. to this end.
• Threats observed primarily point to the frequently emphasised general finding, namely non-acquaintance with the meaning of eco-innovation, resulting in national and regional policies and practices aimed at encouraging eco-innovation (or namely, the lack thereof). Another threat observed in less developed areas is the centralisation of institutes of knowledge, and consequently an aggravated flow of knowledge from research-development organisations into the private sector (and vice versa) and decreased investments into research and development on the regional level. Finally, the effects of the global economic crisis which was also experienced in the regions included in the Medossic project should be mentioned, which has paralyzed the already existing initiatives in the area of eco-innovation.

• Benchmarking report final_v1_270510.pdf