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Embedding ‘radical’ innovations in society : Background report to the CondEcol project based on experience from the Netherlands

The research project CondEcol is structured as a multidisciplinary study of the conditions for moving existing production and consumption patterns in the direction of sustainable development. Working closely in the initial phase with two industrial partners, Norsk Hydro and Renewable Energy Corporation, the project has been given access to high-profile cases of technology and product development as an empirical basis for identifying factors that may hinder or promote innovation and the diffusion of new technologies with a high eco-efficiency potential. Using the Industrial Ecology approach and eco-design in particular as an academic framework, and looking to socioeconomic analysis and the network approach to environmental management, the aim is to seek an understanding of the barriers to and possibilities for the industrial transformation of production, distribution and consumption. The principal objective for CondEcol is to produce a better understanding of the factors that hinder or promote a more effective transformation towards sustainable production and consumption in business sectors with high energy-environment impact. The specific sub-goals of the project are to develop: − new perspectives on industrial planning and decision-making with respect to the introduction and consolidation of more eco-effective products and processes; − an interactive network model derived from case-studies of innovation processes which will (a) focus the responsibilities of interdependent actors in specific product-market constellations, and (b) allow for a better identification of obstacles to, and potential for, greater eco-efficiency; − a set of practical guidelines and procedures for effectively disseminating the lessons and implications of the project to relevant strategic actors: managers, authorities, labour leaders and NGOs.