Environmental Management
D. Wielgórka; W. Szczepaniak
Abstract
Eco-innovation is any innovation that leads to sustainable development by limiting the negative impact of production activities on the environment, increasing the resilience of nature to loads or ensuring greater efficiency and responsibility in the use of natural resources. Eco-innovations are the opportunity ...
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Eco-innovation is any innovation that leads to sustainable development by limiting the negative impact of production activities on the environment, increasing the resilience of nature to loads or ensuring greater efficiency and responsibility in the use of natural resources. Eco-innovations are the opportunity for enterprises. Their introduction contributes to reducing the costs of doing business, allows you to take advantage of new opportunities development and positively affects the company's image. The main goal of the research is to recognize the situation and the level of eco-innovation in Poland, including the micro, small and medium enterprises sector and to compare the obtained results with the ones from European Union countries. The result of the research is indicating the barriers and opportunities to support the development of eco-innovation in the micro, small and medium enterprises sector in Poland. Lack of financial resources for eco-innovation was indicated as the largest barrier by MSMEs in Poland. The most significant barriers to eco-innovation in Poland are mainly of an economic nature, including the high cost of implementation, difficult access to capital, uncertain return on investment and the weak system of economic and fiscal incentives encouraging eco-innovation.
Environmental Management
Z. Ostraszewska; A. Tylec
Abstract
Innovativeness, determining the development potential of enterprises and economies, and hence the economic welfare of societies, became an important area of interest for both theoreticians and especially economic life practitioners. Thus, in this study of the subject there can be found numerous definitions ...
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Innovativeness, determining the development potential of enterprises and economies, and hence the economic welfare of societies, became an important area of interest for both theoreticians and especially economic life practitioners. Thus, in this study of the subject there can be found numerous definitions and types of innovation, including environmental innovation, being a response to the demands of a modern economy, related to the need of combining innovativeness with care for the environment. The observed increase of interest in the idea of sustainable development, and often some kind of reorientation of enterprises towards the eco-innovative strategy, are associated with the perception of the eco-innovation as both a necessity and a chance for promotion and development. Despite this, only less than 1/3 of the countries belonging to the EU can be considered as innovative and eco-innovative at the same time. Poland still does not belong to these countries - on the map of the EU innovation Poland ranks among the so-called moderate innovators (with the SII index of 0.27 in 2017, while the EU index was 0.504). With the Eco-IS score equal to 59 the level of eco-innovativeness of the Polish economy is much below the EU average (Eco-IS = 100) – in 2017 Poland obtained 26th place out of 28 European Union countries. Given the above, this paper outlines the nature of eco-innovativeness with particular focus on the results recorded by Poland in this regard in comparison to the European Union.
