Contenu du sommaire : Eco-innovation and the Circular Economy

The circular economy is entirely in line with the European Commission's long-term strategy aimed at moving toward an economy without any climate impact by 2050 (European Commission, 2018). Yet, to our knowledge, there is little work that analyzes the impact of the circular economy on CO2 emissions in Europe. The objective of this study is to analyze, at the level of the European Union (EU-15), the impact of the circular economy on CO2 emissions using an Autoregressive-Distributed Lag model (ARDL). The results of the study over the period 2000-2015 show that, in the long term, circular economy practices tend to reduce CO2 emissions, while in the short term, the effect is the opposite. The short-term results also question the modalities of our economic growth and the need to find a consensus between “efficiency and sufficiency” in order to limit resource consumption and CO2 emissions.JEL Codes: Q53, C23

The regulatory action of the European Union (EU) and its Member States is critical to overcome market failures and to foster the innovation and entrepreneurship necessary to transition to a circular economy (CE). However, the motivations of EU Member States regarding the CE remain under-researched. This paper adopts a critical geopolitical approach to explore how EU Member States construct the need to transition to the CE and its motivations. To achieve this aim, the narratives within the national CE strategies in the EU were analysed through qualitative document analysis. As a result, six different drivers that motivate CE adoption were identified: (1) economic factors, (2) research and innovation factors, (3) resource supply factors, (4) environmental context, (5) social factors, and (6) political factors. These drivers affect EU Member States differently, creating a set of divergences within the EU regarding social equity or technological leadership. JEL Codes: O3, O2, H8

This study aims to characterize the eco-innovation activities implemented by the Argentine industrial firms, considering their association with different strategies of transition towards a circular economy. An analysis is made of the main motivations and factors that influence the implementation of the different types of EI, including variables such as economic sector, size, age, origin of capitals, productive linkages and innovative profile of firms. A logit regression model is proposed based on data from the National Survey of Employment and Innovation (ENDEI), which collects information from more than 3900 Argentine industrial companies for the period 2014-2016. The results reflect the heterogeneity of both the innovative behavior of the firms and the productive structure of the country. A majority of firms with EI strategies related to resource efficiency and pollution mitigation coexist with a smaller group of companies with a proactive innovative profile and genuinely circular strategies, aimed at reusing waste and designing products with less environmental impact.JEL Codes: Q550, Q570, Q520

This paper provides an empirical approximation to the profile of eco-innovative Spanish companies and highlights some specificities in construction and manufacturing companies. The research is based on a probit model of 4518 firms from the Spanish Innovation Survey for the 2014-2016 period. Spanish companies that claimed to have at least one eco-innovation objective were mainly medium-sized and belonged to the manufacturing sector. Eco-innovation drivers in manufacturing and construction were similar and included expenditure on R&D, expenditure on machinery, and collaboration with stakeholders. The major obstacle for manufacturing companies was market uncertainty, while high investment costs, insufficient funds, and difficulty in accessing financing constituted the most significant barriers for construction companies. The results point to the importance of reinforcing public financing, technological capabilities, and collaboration channels between companies to encourage eco-innovation. The results also show that efforts towards a circular economy currently seem limited.JEL Codes: Q01, Q55, Q56, O31

Eco-design is a response to the collective desire to engage in sustainable development combining innovation, environment, and profitability and participates in the development of products that serve circular economy. While some authors attempt to provide evidence on the link between eco-design and profitability, very few analyze the drivers of profitability in this case. To reduce this gap, we try to identify factors influencing profitability for eco-designed products. Through direct collaboration with professional organizations, we conduct an original phone survey with European and Canadian firms adopting eco-design. We perform an econometric analysis using a robust order probit regression. The results prove that regulation and market motivations are important factors to achieve superior financial performance. Moreover, firms using rigorous eco-design tools increase the probability to improve their financial performance. We demonstrate that in Europe the motivations and characteristics of eco-design have significant effects on profitability, in Canada only the latter is influential.JEL Codes: O31, Q55

This paper explores the way in which academics address the role of innovation spaces in the development of the circular economy. Considering their characteristics, objectives, and functioning, we assume that innovation spaces can be favorable environments for eco-innovations facilitating the implementation of circular economy strategies. To examine this hypothesis, this paper mobilizes a mixed research method based on bibliometric analysis of keywords and content analysis. The results show that these collaborative environments can: foster sustainable experimental learning, provide methodologies and tools for the co-creation of circular solutions, drive the transition toward sustainable smart cities, foster the creation of new sustainable business models, promote sustainable urban entrepreneurship, and facilitate knowledge exchange on circular solutions. However, most of the reviewed literature focuses mainly on their impacts on sustainability and less on the concept of the circular economy per se. Consequently, this work provides insights on the potential of these spaces in the circular strategies' implementation.JEL Codes: Q01, O30, Q56, B40

Industrial symbiosis contributes to the realisation of a circular economy where underutilised assets are shared among different companies and the residual outputs from one industry are used as feedstock for the production processes of other industries. While digital platforms have the potential to facilitate the exchange of excess resources in industrial symbiosis networks, existing platforms have not been very successful hitherto. This research empirically investigates the barriers to industrial symbiosis and how digital platforms (fail to) address them. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eleven prospective platform providers based in Norwegian industrial parks, and two platform developers and one provider in the Netherlands. Results show that the uptake of platform-enabled industrial symbiosis is still hampered by limited commitment to sustainability, a lack of cooperation and information sharing, as well as technical and economic barriers. Platform design only partially solves the challenges specific to matchmaking platforms that facilitate the identification and exploitation of synergy opportunities.JEL Codes: D2, L2, L14, Q57

This study proposes to operationalize and contextualize existing frameworks of dynamic capabilities to clarify whether the untapped potential of digital agro-advisory services in the Global South can be explained by the weak dynamic capabilities of local organizations developing these services. In collaboration with two Burkinabe farmer organizations engaged in international development partnerships to digitalize their agro-advisory service, we developed a framework to assess the micro-foundations of the dynamic capabilities needed to innovate in this specific context. The assessment conducted confirms that the organization that failed to develop a service that fully met user expectations lacked specific dynamic capabilities, including the capabilities to develop and orchestrate the partnership; to design and experiment; and to scale up and sustain the new service. It also highlights that the configurations of the partnerships prevented local service providers from fully mobilizing their capabilities. We thus provide recommendations to improve the design of such partnerships.JEL Codes: O3, Q1