Eco-Industrial Park (EIP) Initiatives Toward Green Growth: Lessons from Korean Experience - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 347

changes'' in the way societies produce and consume. The Green Growth requires
the introduction of concept and system changes. Across the world, corporations and
small and medium-sized enterprises are becoming agents of change for sustain-
ability. They acknowledge the issues of global warming and green growth and their
relevance to businesses. Eco-efficiency and eco-innovation can be good for busi-
ness and it is becoming widely held view in the business community that solving
environmental and social problems is essential for the future growth of firms.
The current economic crisis and negotiations to tackle climate change should be
seen as an opportunity to shift to a greener economy. Incremental improvement is
not enough. Industry must be restructured and existing and breakthrough tech-
nologies must be more innovatively applied to realize green growth.
Industries have traditionally addressed pollution concerns at the point of dis-
charge. Since 'this end-of-pipe' approach is often costly and ineffective, industry
has increasingly adopted cleaner production by reducing the amount of energy and
material used in the production process. Many firms are paying more attention to
the product's lifecycle and are integrating environmental strategies and practices
into their own management systems (OECD June 2009 Policy Brief). Some pio-
neers have been working to establish a closed-loop production system that elim-
inates final disposal by recovering wastes and turning them into new resources for
production. Eco-Industrial Park (EIP) and Eco-innovation help to make possible
this kind of evolution in industry practices.
There have been diverse government policy initiatives and programs that
promote eco-efficient and eco-innovation. These include both supply-side and
demand-side measures. As most countries recognize the need for more collaborative
approaches to innovation, many initiatives involve creating networks, platforms, or
partnerships that engage different industry and non-industry stakeholders.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a more systematic understanding of
supporting mechanisms for Green Growth such as Eco-Industrial Park (EIP) and
Eco-Innovation. First, I would like to introduce the concepts of Eco-Industrial Park
and Eco-Innovation, and then I will review the process of EIP development
strategies in Korea and their policy implications. Third, I will discuss how these
concepts and principles can be applied to the development and management of
science park projects in many countries in the future.
2 Industrial Ecology and Eco-Industrial Parks
2.1 Industrial Ecology and the Role of Government
Industrial ecology is a strategic approach attempting to reduce environmental
impacts by applying the principles of natural ecosystems to the industrial processes
(Deutz and Gibbs 2004 ). Although similar concepts circulated in the 1970s, the
concept was systematized by research on 'industrial metabolism' by Ayres ( 1989 ).