The world’s economy is undergoing a profound transformation. Supply chains and entire economic sectors are facing major challenges and problems with multiple contributing causal factors that interconnect in complex ways, from environmentalEnvironmental issues and accelerated urbanization to resource shortages, natural and man-made disasters, wars, migrations, stranded assets and security of shipping lanes, to cite only a few. Arguably, these are manifestations of an irreversible transition to another internal configuration of our world as a complex dynamic systemComplex dynamic systems. Indeed, we hope that this is the beginning of the transition to sustainable developmentSustainable development, but systemic transitions have their own inner dynamics (independent from our wishes) and all we can do is our best to keep open the possibility of sustainable prosperity. But we must know what we are doing (which also includes working with nature, not against it), lest we create more harm than good. Here, I rely on (a) first-hand experience in projects and the theoretical analysis of eco-innovationEco-innovation (research, development and innovation for sustainabilitySustainability) at the frontier on the notion itself—which includes experience as director of the world’s first Master program dedicated entirely to eco-innovationEco-innovation (2010–2013; in a university-industry innovation cluster in the Paris Region, France) and a good deal of related research and teaching before and after it—and (b) an in-depth review of the global literature and relevant experience, to distill the importance of eco-innovation in the grand transition to sustainabilitySustainability. As a concrete result, I present a consolidated argument supporting the idea that Eco-innovationEco-innovation is not just an option to try out (as some might be tempted to think at a quick look) but the best and perhaps the only real way to green reRenewable Energy Sources (RES)-industrialization and sustainable prosperity. This is the main contribution of this book chapter, and this abstract could in principle stop here. However, given the huge complexity of the issue, combined with the deeply theoretical-and-practical character of eco-innovationEco-innovation, it is worth extending this abstract with some specifications, even if this makes it longer than usual. Namely, in the practice of eco-innovationEco-innovation, we must focus on the generation of goods or/and services that are not only better in terms of “hidden costs” (like excessive environmentalEnvironmental damages and/or socially unacceptable situations or actions) but also superior from a direct user viewpoint, i.e., they must be meeting the expectations of a better quality of life. We need sustainabilitySustainability-compatible products and services that (1) are at least as good as the older ones and (2) satisfy multiple needs simultaneously, like a “swiss knife” replacing a whole bag of tools. This is obviously hard, but also perfectly achievable through a systemic and truly holistic approach that systematically meets all ecological, social and economic requirements by disciplined experimentation. And, for this entire process of transformation to be successful, it is essential that the new means and methods are not mere substitutes of the old but actually open a whole new range of possibilities and opportunities for the future, in both human-aspirational and logistic-practical ways.

Eco-Innovation is the Way to Green Re-industrialization

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发表日期：

2026年

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Ioan M. Ciumasu

摘要

The world’s economy is undergoing a profound transformation. Supply chains and entire economic sectors are facing major challenges and problems with multiple contributing causal factors that interconnect in complex ways, from environmentalEnvironmental issues and accelerated urbanization to resource shortages, natural and man-made disasters, wars, migrations, stranded assets and security of shipping lanes, to cite only a few. Arguably, these are manifestations of an irreversible transition to another internal configuration of our world as a complex dynamic systemComplex dynamic systems. Indeed, we hope that this is the beginning of the transition to sustainable developmentSustainable development, but systemic transitions have their own inner dynamics (independent from our wishes) and all we can do is our best to keep open the possibility of sustainable prosperity. But we must know what we are doing (which also includes working with nature, not against it), lest we create more harm than good. Here, I rely on (a) first-hand experience in projects and the theoretical analysis of eco-innovationEco-innovation (research, development and innovation for sustainabilitySustainability) at the frontier on the notion itself—which includes experience as director of the world’s first Master program dedicated entirely to eco-innovationEco-innovation (2010–2013; in a university-industry innovation cluster in the Paris Region, France) and a good deal of related research and teaching before and after it—and (b) an in-depth review of the global literature and relevant experience, to distill the importance of eco-innovation in the grand transition to sustainabilitySustainability. As a concrete result, I present a consolidated argument supporting the idea that Eco-innovationEco-innovation is not just an option to try out (as some might be tempted to think at a quick look) but the best and perhaps the only real way to green reRenewable Energy Sources (RES)-industrialization and sustainable prosperity. This is the main contribution of this book chapter, and this abstract could in principle stop here. However, given the huge complexity of the issue, combined with the deeply theoretical-and-practical character of eco-innovationEco-innovation, it is worth extending this abstract with some specifications, even if this makes it longer than usual. Namely, in the practice of eco-innovationEco-innovation, we must focus on the generation of goods or/and services that are not only better in terms of “hidden costs” (like excessive environmentalEnvironmental damages and/or socially unacceptable situations or actions) but also superior from a direct user viewpoint, i.e., they must be meeting the expectations of a better quality of life. We need sustainabilitySustainability-compatible products and services that (1) are at least as good as the older ones and (2) satisfy multiple needs simultaneously, like a “swiss knife” replacing a whole bag of tools. This is obviously hard, but also perfectly achievable through a systemic and truly holistic approach that systematically meets all ecological, social and economic requirements by disciplined experimentation. And, for this entire process of transformation to be successful, it is essential that the new means and methods are not mere substitutes of the old but actually open a whole new range of possibilities and opportunities for the future, in both human-aspirational and logistic-practical ways.