Environmental and Technology Policy in Europe: Technological Innovation and Policy Integration (Environment & Policy)

Technology is a crucial factor for environmental policy aimed at industry. Stimulation of the development and application of new technologies is a regular policy issue in most European countries. Policy approaches in the fields of environmental and technology policies have much in common, especially when the latter has environment or sustainability as specific field of application. In this book, policy integration is studied at the national level in terms of co-ordination of policy goals, the application of means, and advanced forms of inter-policy co-operation. These issues are addressed through an analysis of the way public policy has dealt with the issue of sustainable innovations by industry in recent decades and, in particular, the conditions that lead to the emergence of co-ordination between the environment and technology policy fields. The book contains six studies of environmental and environment-oriented technology policy in several EU member states (Austria, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and the extent of inter-policy co-ordination and integration that has been achieved. The six national studies are sandwiched between an introductory and a concluding chapter. The national studies have been conducted as part of the EU research project, “Towards an Integration of Environmental and Ecology-Oriented Technology Policy: Stimulus and Response in Environment Related Innovation Networks” (in short: ENVINNO), which was carried out, between 1998 and 2001, by research teams from the six countries. In the introductory chapter the issue of environmental integration’ within the European Union is also addressed, while the final chapter contains asynthesis of the characteristic elements of the six national studies that sheds light on a European framework of environment-oriented innovation stimulation.