Eco-innovation and International Competitiveness of Enterprises Results for European Union Member States

Abstract

Intensive global warming, declining natural resources, and pollution are the factors influencing the wider debate about what creates a “green economy.” Taking the above into account, the purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the eco-innovation performance of European Union members and, at the same time, their overall level of innovativeness. The paper also provides insights into the role of eco-innovation as the driving force for the international competitiveness of enterprises from European Union countries. The results at the macro level show that there is a strong interdependence between the level of innovativeness and the level of eco-innovation implementation in the EU Member States. In turn, the micro-analysis conducted for EU enterprises shows that there is an interdependence between the introduction of eco-innovation with benefits for the end-user and the level of international competitiveness measured by the intensity of exports. Enterprises from countries with a higher overall Innovation Union Scoreboard (IUS) and Eco-Innovation Scoreboard (Eco-IS) are simultaneously characterized by a higher intensity of eco-innovation, introducing benefits for the end-user, and an intensive presence with sales on foreign markets. Enterprises from countries with low IUS and Eco-IS rankings, including the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, are characterized by a relatively low intensity of introducing eco-innovation accompanied by a relatively low export intensity.