Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Karlsruhe
January, 17th-18th, 2008
Update : Programme

Solving national and global ecological problems has become a major social and political challenge of societies worldwide. Often, conflicting goals have to be reconciled. In this respect, great expectations hinge upon environmental innovations as a delivery mechanism for economic welfare, competitiveness as well as environmental benefits. While there is an increasing political interest in the topic, it is still a fairly recent area of research which needs to be further developed. A promising approach lies in the closer integration of innovation and environmental research. The workshop contributes to this endeavour. Being part of the Working Package 2.5 “Environmental innovation: indicators, stylised facts and analyses” of the 3rd Dime Working Programme, it aims at extending collaborations and interactions among researchers, and particularly DIME members, active in this field.

This workshop serves to exchange theoretical and empirical knowledge on environmental innovation and on the role of regulation, with a particular focus on the questions of measurement and indicators. The various sessions in the workshop will address the following sub-themes:

1. Theoretical state-of-art and stylized facts on environmental innovations: definition of the concepts, typology, identification and measurement of environmental innovations. What kind of empirical indicators can we use? Can we identify some stylized facts and typical properties? What are the main drivers and barriers to environmental innovations?
2. Sectoral analyses of environmental innovation: Do industrial sectors exhibit different patterns of environmental innovation? Contributions dealing with particular industrial sectors (transport, chemical industry, energy, water) will be presented to analyze environmental innovation strategies of firms, their impact upon competitiveness and their interactions with regulation.
3. Patent analyses: Patent data are a well established data source in general innovation research. Their use for the identification and analysis of environmental innovations, however, is relatively new and has been experiencing an upsurge recently. A session will be devoted to papers using patent data as indicators of environmental innovations in specific technological fields. Methodological challenges, strengths and weaknesses related to this data source will also be discussed.
4. The role of regulation: Policy instruments and the overall regulatory framework play an important role for environmental innovation - more so than for other technological innovations. A session will be organized on quantitative empirical studies analysing (environmental) policy impacts on the level and the pattern of innovative activity in “green” technologies. In particular, the direct measurement of regulatory policy (stringency) and the use of this data in statistical analyses of policy impacts on innovation will be discussed.

To conclude the workshop, a roundtable is organized with stakeholders and policy makers to discuss the implications of the findings presented and further research questions to which the DIME network can contribute.

Participants who wish to present a paper at the workshop must send an extended abstract not exceeding 1000 words no later than November 30th 2007. Abstracts should be sent to Katrin.Ostertag@isi.fraunhofer.de.

Date and location

The workshop will take place on January 17 – 18, 2008 at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) in Karlsruhe (Germany). The workshop will start on the 17th of January at 13:00 pm and end on the 18th of January after lunch.

The estimated number of participants is 20-25 and the maximum number of presentations around 15. Each presentation will be followed by a short discussion.

Timetable

Deadline for extended abstracts submission: November 30, 2007
Decision of paper acceptance: December 15, 2007
Full papers sent: January 8, 2008

Workshop registration

Registration fee including lunch and dinner: 100 euros

DIME members and 'non-DIME' participants presenting a paper can apply to cover their travel and registration costs according to the standard DIME rules.

• Registration form to be sent no later than January 8, 2008.
• Refund form of travel expenses

Workshop organizers

• Vanessa Oltra, GREThA, University Montesquieu Bordeaux IV, (oltra@u-bordeaux4.fr)
• Katrin Ostertag, Fraunhofer ISI, Karlsruhe, (katrin.ostertag@isi.fraunhofer.de)

Practical details

• Address and Directions
• Accommodation and travel
  

For additional information contact

• Vanessa Oltra, GREThA, University Montesquieu Bordeaux IV, (oltra@u-bordeaux4.fr)