Determinants of Eco-innovation from a European-wide Perspective - an Analysis based on the Community Innovation Survey (CIS)

Eco-innovations lead to less environmental impacts or to a reduction of energy use and are therefore crucial for climate protection. Recently, the determinants of eco-innovation activities have been widely explored for single countries but there is still a lack of country comparisons mainly because of data restrictions. In 2009, a special module on eco-innovation has been included in the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) allowing a comparison of the determinants of eco-innovation in 19 different European countries. Our analysis especially focuses on Eastern European transformation countries because the determinants of eco- innovation in these countries have not yet been systematically analyzed. Concerning the introduction of eco-innovation, the econometric analysis shows that regulation activities seem to be more important for Eastern European countries. This is especially the case for 'traditional fields' such as air, noise, soil, water, recycling or dangerous substances. Except energy saving measures, environmentally related subsidies seem to be quantitatively more important for the Eastern European countries pointing to the lower financial performance of the respective firms. Furthermore, Eastern European countries are more relying on competitors and external R&D as information sources indicating a technology transfer from West to East.