PLANNING INNOVATIONS TAKING INTO ACCOUNT ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: A REVIEW OF MODERN SOFTWARE PRODUCTS

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of taking into account and evaluating the environmental aspects of goods, services, and solutions (technological, organizational and marketing nature), when planning innovations in the enterprise. The aim of the article is to characterize the possibilities of use and functionality of modern software developed to assess the environmental aspects of innovation during the development of plans for innovation projects and investment proposals. Within the research framework, the main indicators that can be used to assess the environmental friendliness of innovations are described, in particular: water footprint, land footprint, material input per service unit, carbon footprint. The article provides a detailed review of software (foreign and domestic developments) that can be used to automate the process of assessing the environmental aspects of innovative projects and business in general: outlines the functionality (detailing indicators for evaluation) and features of use, indicates the possibility of software use for planning. The foreign developments explored provide an assessment of the environmental impact throughout the life cycle and, as a rule, can be applied to various industries. Almost all the software presented provides a carbon footprint assessment and is suitable for eco-design purposes. In addition to directly assessing the environmental impact, many tools provide an opportunity to assess the costs associated with the environmental impact along the life cycle or with the material / energy flows. Domestic developments are mainly of a marketing nature (aimed at attracting new customers rather than assessing environmental aspects). For the most part, the functionality of these developments is related to energy efficiency issues. No domestic software provides a comprehensive environmental impact assessment throughout the life cycle. However, there is the wide range of available (in terms of conditions of use and functionality) foreign software tools for assessing the environmental aspects of innovation, which can be used to plan and develop investment proposals by domestic business structures.