Civil Engineering Reference
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Second, while a wide range of technologies might be appropriate for green
growth efforts, it may be appropriate for the science and technology park to be
become more focused on the specific area of eco-innovation. It may be appropriate
for the proposed entity to focus on clean energy technologies, eco-environment
protection, cleaner production technologies, water efficiency technologies, agri-
culture and health issues, or other topics of immediate concern to each society. The
selection of technologies and the area of eco-innovation can be done effectively by
establishing governance system with interested parties.
Third, networks between science-parks and eco-industrial parks should be
established to explore potential opportunities for new business. Public sector can
facilitate the establishment of these networks by providing incentives to encourage
park entities and businesses to participate.
Fourth, when a potential institutional arrangement for the network has been
developed, the next step will be to estimate the financial needs necessary to
establish the project, and to sustain its future efforts.
A more comprehensive understanding of the interaction between supply and
demand for eco-innovation will be a pre-requisite for creating successful
eco-innovation policies. Eco-innovation has the potential to lead to significant
economic opportunities. But the costs of some innovations may be very high
initially, and government will have to share the risk of new technologies with the
private sector in some circumstances.
A number of other measures are already being employed by countries to sup-
port environment-related R&D. An analysis of the results of the OECD survey on
current government innovation policies reveals several areas for improvement
among such measures: Supply-side measures include equity support, research and
development, pre-commercialization, education and training, networks and part-
nership, and information services. Demand-side measures include regulations and
standards, public procurement and demand support, technology transfer.
With eco-innovation gaining ground within both industry and government as a
way to tackle environmental degradation and to foster green growth, both devel-
oped and developing countries are intensifying its work in this area. But research
on eco-innovation is still in its infancy, particularly concerning systemic eco-
innovations, which have greater potential for overall environmental improvements
but are also highly complex, involving non-technological changes. In this context,
the management entities of science
and technology parks
need to intensify
activities such as
• Develop a toolkit to help businesses benchmark their performance and improve
their production processes and products.
• Gather examples of eco-innovations, particularly those of more integrated,
systemic approaches, and conduct in-depth analyses of such innovations to
deepen understanding and extract lessons for practitioners and policy makers.
• Identify promising policies that encourage eco-innovation by sharing best
practices among countries with science and technology parks.
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