Eco-innovation and Circular Business Models as drivers for a circular economy

Resumen

Eco-innovation is defined as any directed/oriented innovation aiming at reducing environmental impacts. Eco-innovation is not only a technology change; it also embraces organisational, social and system innovations. This systemic and complex thinking is necessary to understand the role of eco-innovation as an enabler of Circular Economy (CE). Circular Economy appears as a promising approach towards a sustainable transition from the linear socioeconomic paradigm. The objective of the Circular Economy is to maintain and to share value along the time. Eco-innovation for Circular Economy can be of technological and non-technological character. Indeed, it is acknowledged that CE needs to address important challenges regarding business models and socio-institutional frameworks, while technological change may not be necessarily radical. In order to pave the way to Circular Economy through eco-innovation, business models are considered a key driver. The business model is seen as a holistic approach towards the way of doing business. From the eco-innovation perspective, a business model needs to add ecological and social value to the value proposal and changing the producer and the consumer practices. In particular, eco-innovations with the potential to enable the transition to a resource-efficient circular economy model include efforts to change dominant business models (from new product and service design to reconfigured value chains, new/short supply chains), transform the way citizens interact with products and services (ownership, leasing, sharing, repairing, reducing, remanufacturing, etc.) and develop improved systems for delivering value (green mobility, smart energy systems, short supply chains,  etc.).