Circular Economy and Eco-Innovation: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead

Dear Colleagues,

As we slowly emerge from a world-changing pandemic, a return to “business as usual” will not only be a wasted chance (a chance that comes at an unbelievable human and economic price) but also utterly myopic. The “take–make–dispose” model is a dead-end, and the socio-economic effects of environmental issues (e.g., pollution and climate change) are now clear.

So, what is the best way to seize the opportunity and tackle those effects? Bearing in mind that the trajectory of relaunch and recovery will most probably set the tone for socio-development over the coming years, the answer is critical.

The “circular economy” (CE) has been put forward as a strategic goal, placing closed-loop thinking at the heart of businesses, industrial and urban organizations, and national and citizens’ agendas. However, the CE approach as a socio-technical template for replacing an old, linear unsustainable economy with a more regenerative system is dependent on the introduction of transformative environmental innovation (i.e., eco-innovation) to foster a “deep transition”.

If aligning innovation activities with a more sustainable path is a central requirement for a socio-techno-economic paradigm shift, how can the innovation agenda be geared toward a CE? What changes, and at what levels (cities, regions, business, counties), are instrumental for such a structural break? How can CE-inducing eco-innovation be measured at several levels? What are the implications for socio-cultural agents, organizational strategies and policy priorities? What are the examples that can already be grasped in products, business models, cities, societal challenge responses and national strategies? What are the challenges and opportunities that resolutions like the “European New Green Deal” bring to this discussion, and what can the Chinese experience teach both developed and developing countries?

Acknowledging the importance of more research and recognizing that the literature has only recently begun to consider the interactions at the point where sustainability, eco-innovation and circular economy agendas intersect, for this Special Issue on “Circular economy and eco-innovation: stocktaking and looking ahead”, we invite researchers from all disciplines to contribute to this discussion. The focus will be on taking stock of current research, showcasing success stories and diving into challenges for the next decade regarding policy, research and practical actions. The aim is to collect up-to-date research papers that explore these and other pro-CE innovation questions, from different disciplines and with different methodological approaches, in the realization that a “new” kind of innovation pathway is needed to navigate through the Anthropocene. Within this framework of concerns, this Special Issue will include contributions that, in particular, cover the following fields: 

• Eco-innovation as a vehicle to deep transition;
• Reconfiguring innovation systems toward a circular economy;
• Circular-economy products/services innovation;
• Innovation toward circular business models, cities and countries;
• Participatory innovation and consumers’/user-driven innovation toward a circular economy;
• Consumer acceptance of circular business models/ products/ services;
• Circular innovation indicators;
• Transformative innovation;
• Challenge-based innovation missions;
• Future eco-innovation pathways toward a circular economy. 

Dr. Ana de Jesus
Prof. Dr. Minna Lammi
Prof. Dr. Teresa Domenech
Dr. Fedra Vanhuyse
Prof. Dr. Sandro Mendonça
Guest Editors

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