Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - green.eu (European Global Transition Network on Eco-Innovation, Green Economy and Sustainable Development)

Teaser

In the last two decades the world has experienced several crises. In light of these trends and to more effectively move towards sustainable development, several organizations and international actors have developed the concept of green economy as crucial action-oriented...

Summary

In the last two decades the world has experienced several crises. In light of these trends and to more effectively move towards sustainable development, several organizations and international actors have developed the concept of green economy as crucial action-oriented approach. Priority interventions are aimed at triggering technology adoption, and stimulate behavioral change. In fact, eco-innovation can be considered an enabler for a green economy to the same extent that the green economy can be understood as an enabler of sustainable development.

The work programme of the H2020 Green.eu project was designed to identify and consolidate the global knowledge around eco-innovation, green economy and sustainable development. While having a European focus, it was designed to create a network and an online platform for the integration and sharing of knowledge around innovation, strategies and policies into sustainable development actions, worldwide. One of the core results of the project is an online platform of the network has been launched in November 2018. A demo version is available at the following website: http://new.inno4sd.net/

The main conclusions per work package are:

WP1 demonstrates the benefits of the creation of a global network for collaboration and knowledge sharing: the inno4sd network. The network brings people together from all sectors related to the green economy, sustainability and innovation.

WP2 concluded on the need to adequately map all the different actors, research and policy programmes, government policies and business initiatives around eco-innovation for a green economy. Moreover, there is an opportunity to mainstream the measurement of eco-innovation for a green economy as an important driver of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The main conclusion of WP3 is the need for both a comprehensive evidence base and the new ways of engaging experts and stakeholders in co-creating, interpreting and debating relevance of various forms of data and evidence for eco-innovation policy.

WP4 concludes that over the last decades policy makers engaged in the fighting of climate change recognising that environmental-related innovation is key to achieve long term policy objectives.

WP5 concludes there is a huge potential to be exploited by improving the transfer of good practices and actions from a city to another in order to accelerate SDG implementation and reaching the very challenging objectives by 2030. The UN and the EU are conscious about this opportunity and are committed in supporting transfer initiatives.

WP6 on project management has helped to monitor progress to avoid unnecessary delay in the finishing and submission of deliverables. These deliverables were produced along 6 project goals.

Video recordings for all events, webinars and sessions of the project are available at the YouTube channel of the inno4sd
Network: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtc8vDoBeU3Ob7NlLvOIBvQ

Work performed

The main results per work package are as follows:
WP1 on Networking and coordination worked on the organization of interactive events on networking and sustainable development with the aim to contribute to networks for knowledge transfer and contribute towards a green economy. Creation of the inno4sd network and an interactive knowledge repository, including a sustainability strategy for continuation beyond the project duration.

WP2 on Harmonization of concepts of green economy and eco-innovation clarified the global (operational) meaning of eco-innovation, sustainable development and green economy.

WP3 on the Eco-innovation of policy agendas focused on the following objectives :
• Review and synthesize the evidence on the rationales for eco-innovation policy
• Provide an evidence library on eco-innovation policy issues
• Provide evidence on the barriers and synergies for green economy policies that emerge in the context of international trade
Related to these objectives, the WP3 team has developed a series of reports, papers and maps for the Inno4SD evidence library.

WP4 on best practices, knowledge transfer, transferability aimed at exploring the needs and identifying the best practices related to green knowledge development and transfer. This task has been carried out by collecting specific case studies, reviewing the scientific literature and identifying and testing specific tools that may be employed to analyse the transfer of eco-innovation in practice.

WP5 on Integration and operationalization of lessons learned
The 2030 Agenda for SDGs brings the dynamics back at the local level after MDGs and Local Agenda 21 may have failed in this relation. Despite new dynamics at local level, it seems there is still yet not a clear mandate from SDGs for the local level. With compiling the guide “Innovation for Sustainable Development at local level: instruments and examples to get started” our claim is that local action is one of the essential responses to the global sustainability challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss.

Final results

\"WP1 achieved the consolidation of the inno4sd network, the creation of a knowledge platform and the organisation of events on innovation for sustainable development. A global initiative on knowledge and innovation was launched at the European Parliament on November 9th, 2018 with the presence of relevant initiatives such as SDSN, GGKP, Future Earth, JST, among others.

WP 2 identified key challenges that hinder eco-innovation for a green economy; the project produced the \"\"Maastricht Manual for the Measurement of Ecoinnovation for a Green Economy\"\". A document that is compatible with the state-of-the art guidelines for measuring innovation (e.g. the Oslo Manual), and provides knowledge, tools and practical advice for policy makers, statistical offices and analysis for measuring ecoinnovation at the national, regional and local level.

WP3 concluded that there are two activities which contribute to the ongoing international and national policy debates.
First, the Inno4SD outlook and guidebook on STI policy roadmaps for the SDGs have been particularly timely and influential, and met with interest from the international community.
Second, the development of the STIR (Sustainability Transitions and Innovation Review) approach met with interest of policy community (notably in Turkey and Sweden) and from relevant international policy initiatives, notably the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium

WP4 concluded that their results are extremely important for different actors. In particular, the generation and diffusion of green knowledge are fundamental in the transition towards sustainability.

WP5 found that there is a great opportunity for the local economy to play a major role in the SDG localization, i.e. being more responsible, sustainable, inclusive (i.e. time banks concept, educating migrants in acquiring language skills, introduction of local currencies complementary to national currencies etc.). A guideline for local policy makers was produced in order to help them to incorporate innovation for sustainability.

In WP6 , project management, the impact and wider societal implications of the project the socio-economic elements have been included implicitly in the project planning activities and in the deliverables of the project.
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Website & more info

More info: http://new.inno4sd.net/.