Policy instruments to support innovation in the area of sustainability

As part of the Dutch presidency preparations for the Informal Environmental Council on July 2004, Technopolis studied policy support instruments in all European countries that have both a positive impact on innovation and sustainability. We started with an overview of the most important policy instruments and selected those instruments that have a large impact on innovation and environment and that might be suitable to introduce at the European level.

The relation between environment and innovation is complex and there are no quantified figures to prove this relation or give insight in the effectiveness of these policy instruments. We used secondary sources as well as interviews with responsible programme managers to retrieve information and select the interesting instruments with an (potential) effect on innovation in the area of sustainability.

Our study shows there are many examples of policy instruments in the European countries that have both a positive effect on environment and innovation. These instruments are often more efficient and effective in achieving environmental goals and stimulate companies to view environmental issues as a business challenge. The results of this study suggest that more innovation oriented policy instruments have a larger impact on sustainability than strict environmental regulations or inefficient, end-of-pipe technologies.

The final report can be downloaded here:
www2.vrom.nl/docs/internationaal/RegionalResearch03.pdf