The circular economy aims for an effective and efficient resource use. Thus, application of the concept can benefit the sustainability performance of companies. Specifically, business modelling is a key enabler for the transition to a circular economy. However, the related research is dominated by a focus on incumbent companies and their transition from linear to circular business models. This focus risks missing out on actors such as start-ups who can experiment with and develop potentially more radical circular business models. Thus, using interviews with 37 start-ups developing circular business models, we analyzed their characteristics and challenges. Our findings reveal that, such firms encounter general challenges related to circular business modelling and new venture development. Furthermore, such start-ups are often dependent on an ecosystem of actors to create, deliver and capture value based on circular principles. Thus, they encounter challenges to scale up their business based on their liabilities of smallness and dependency. Altogether, these challenges of “circular start-ups” call for a holistic approach to understanding their development process.

I detta kapitel beskrivs några betydande miljöproblem av global karaktär. Det handlar närmare bestämt om klimatförändringar, uttunning av ozonskiktet, minskad biologisk mångfald och användning av naturresurser. Syftet är att du som läsare bättre ska förstå vad som kännetecknar problemen, vad i samhället som orsakar dem, rådande trender och möjliga åtgärder.

Denna rapport syftar till att bidra till arbetet med att integrera och beakta olika hållbarhetsaspekter i det svenska exportstödsystemet genom att beskriva hur begreppet hållbar export används samt sammanställa och analysera utbudet av exportfrämjande aktiviteter där hållbarhetsaspekter ingår. Rapporten ger svar på följande frågeställningar:

1. Hur används och förstås begreppet hållbar export i vetenskaplig litteratur och av svenska exportstödjande aktörer?
2. Vilka exportfrämjande aktiviteter som integrerar hållbarhetsaspekter erbjuds av svenska exportstödjande aktörer?
3. Hur upplevs efterfrågan av exportfrämjande aktiviteter som integrerar hållbarhetsaspekter av svenska exportstödjande aktörer?
4. Hur ser efterfrågan på svenska produkter och tjänster med hög hållbarhetsprestanda ut på mottagande marknader?

Frågeställningar besvarades genom en tredelad metod bestående av en litteraturstudie som genomlyste både vetenskaplig och så kallad grå litteratur, en enkät som skickades till aktörer inom nätverket för Regional exportsamverkan (RES) och sex fördjupande intervjuer med exportstödjande aktörer.

Utifrån studien kunde tre olika användningssätt för begreppet hållbar export utrönas. Hållbar export används för det första för att beskriva export av produkter och tjänster med hög hållbarhetsprestanda, det vill säga, produkter och tjänster utformade för att lösa hållbarhetsrelaterade problem (exempelvis renhållningsteknik eller medicinteknik) eller som är, exempelvis, mer miljövänliga än det globala genomsnittet. Här appliceras ett livscykelperspektiv på hållbarhetsprestandan vilket gör att alla delar av exportvarans livscykel inkluderas (från råmaterialutvinning till kassering). Den andra användningen av begreppet är för att beskriva export från företag som aktivt arbetar med att förbättra sin hållbarhet, alltså det används för att beskriva när hållbara företag exporterar. Även här appliceras ett livscykelperspektiv då företagets underleverantörers och kunders hållbarhetsarbete inkluderas. Det tredje användningssättet för hållbar export är för att beskriva att själva exportaffären bidrar till hållbar utveckling. Här fokuseras det ofta på anti-korruption, tillförlitlighet mellan partnerna i exportaffären samt arbetsvillkor och miljöpåverkan i själva implementeringen av exportvaran (exempelvis om något måste monteras på plats).

På grund av dessa distinkt olika användningssätt och att det upplevs råda stor samstämmighet mellan aktörer som använder begreppet hållbar export så rekommenderas att begreppet fortsätter användas som ett samlingsbegrepp för att innefatta alla dessa tre användningssätt. Detta ger begreppet stor flexibilitet i användning och ökad funktionalitet. Vid behov av mer precist språkbruk bör andra begrepp än hållbar export användas som är anpassade till det specifika behovet. Exempelvis finns flera mer specifika begrepp som inryms i samlingsbegreppet hållbar export, så som miljöteknikexport eller medicinteknikexport, vilka bör användas om användaren vill precisera ett visst fokusområde inom hållbar export.

I studien identifierades ett brett utbud av exportfrämjande aktiviteter som integrerar hållbarhetsaspekter inom nätverket för RES. I detta utbud dominerar utbildningsaktiviteter vilka syftar till att förmedla kunskap, information eller färdigheter till exporterande företag (exempelvis via coachning, seminarium eller kurser). Inom nätverket finns även aktörer som erbjuder finansiella stödaktiviteter så som kontantstöd, lån eller garanter. En avsaknad av mobilitetsrelaterade stöd identifierades dock men detta kan bero på COVID-pandemin och att det är aktörer utanför RES-nätverket som erbjuder denna typ av stöd. Efterfrågan av stödaktiviteter upplevdes av de tillfrågade aktörerna som varken stor eller liten trots att intresset för hållbar utveckling i exportsammanhang upplevdes som stort. Detta kan eventuellt förklaras med att många av dessa aktiviteter är relativt nya och att företag inte är medvetna om det utbud av stödaktiviteter som finns samt vilka krav som de eventuellt ska uppnå för att ta del av stöden. Om så är fallet bör efterfrågan av dessa aktiviteter öka under de kommande åren förutsatt att stödaktiviteterna fortsätter att erbjudas.

Från aktörerna i enkät- och intervjustudien framgick att det fanns ett stort intresse för svenska produkter och tjänster med hög hållbarhetsprestanda och att det i allt större grad ställs krav på god affärssed och affärsetik i exportaffärer (exempelvis genom att olika uppförandekoder ska följas). Gällande specifika geografiska marknader kunde studien inte säkerställa huruvida någon specifik marknad efterfrågade hållbar export i större grad eller ställde högre hållbarhetsrelaterade krav på exportvaror. Indikationer gavs utifrån respondenterna att det möjligen fanns större efterfrågan på varor med hög hållbarhetsprestanda i Nordeuropa (Norge, Finland, Danmark, Tyskland och Nederländerna) men att behovet borde vara större i utvecklingsländer där hållbarhetsproblemen ofta är värre. I dessa länder krävs dock ökad beställarkompetens varför svenska stödaktörer som är intresserade av dessa marknader bör rikta in sig på att bygga funktionella marknader på dessa platser vilka i sin tur kan efterfråga svensk export.

På grund av studiens ringa tidsomfång (studien genomfördes mellan november 2022 och januari 2023) krävs ytterligare studier för att styrka de slutsatser som presenteras i rapport. Utöver detta identifierades andra intressanta områden för fortsatta studier. Exempelvis identifierades att aktörer som erbjuder finansiellt stöd ofta har dialoger med företag runtomkring finansieringsprocessen, varför en studie kring hur dessa dialoger kan bidra till ökad hållbarhet i exportaffären eller i det exporterande företaget skulle vara intressant. Utöver detta vore det intressant att studera den indirekta påverkan som utbudet av stödaktiviteter har på svenska exporterande företag eftersom ett brett erbjudande inom hållbart exportstöd kan indirekt påverka företags strategiska arbete utan att de deltar i stödaktiviteter.

De miljöproblem som behandlas i det här kapitlet omfattar allt som ligger mellan globala miljöproblem och lokala problem. Det innebär att regionala miljöproblem alltså inte enbart omfattar det vi i Sverige vanligen kallar regioner, utan mycket väl kan handla om utsläpp i ett land som påverkar flera andra länder. Ett exempel på detta är luftburna föroreningar som driver många mil med vinden innan de faller ner i ett annat, dock relativt närliggande, område och där stället till med problem.

I det här kapitlet berörs vanligt förekommande reningsteknik, vilket till stor del handlar om tekniska åtgärder som används i samhället och inom industrier för att rena luft, vatten och mark. Reningstekniska lösningar är väsentliga att känna till eftersom de fyller en viktig funktion i många typer av miljöarbete.

I det här kapitlet introduceras begreppet miljöproblem. Vidare berörs flera viktiga globala utvecklingstrender som ligger bakom problembilden. Tanken är att bidra med information som underlättar förståelsen av kommande kapitel.

The transition to a circular economy relies on systems that facilitate waste recovery and recirculation of resources. These systems are based on certain enabling technologies. The aim of this paper is to explain how socio-economic structures influence the diffusion of such technologies. It applies a framework built on societal embedding and varieties of capitalism to compare the diffusion of anaerobic digestion (AD) in Sweden in northern Europe and Paraná in southern Brazil. Both Sweden and Paraná have experienced accelerated diffusion of AD, but there are significant differences in the respective diffusion patterns. The comparative analysis points to a tradeoff between system complexity and speed of diffusion. It illustrates how AD can be presented as a solution to various problems, and it further shows how the specific problems that gain attention shape diffusion patterns. By showing how socio-economic structures influence the appointment of problem owners, their agency, and legitimate forms of institutional support, the analysis demonstrates how economic systems condition technology diffusion.

Denna rapport behandlar hur grön omställning i små och medelstora företag inom svensk tillverkningsindustri kan påskyndas. Utgångspunkten är att dessa företag behöver öka sin kunskap om hur hållbarhetsfrågor kommer påverka deras verksamhet och framtida konkurrenskraft och utifrån denna kunskap genomföra ett omställningsarbete. För att underlätta denna gröna omställning bedrivs ett stort antal satsningar ofta finansierade av offentliga myndigheter såsom den svenska innovationsmyndigheten Vinnova. Rapporten utgör en del av en förstudie tillika följeforskningsprojekt, benämnt IFGO (interaktiv forskning för grön omställning), och inriktas mot fem VINNOVA-finansierade program/projekt som avser att utveckla metoder för, samt stödja den gröna omställningen hos huvudsakligen små och medelstora tillverkande industriföretag. 

Syftet med denna rapport är att förmedla kunskap om program för att stödja grön omställning i svensk tillverkningsindustri och vidareutveckla denna kunskap, samt att kategorisera ett urval av sådana program som finansierats av Vinnova.  

Förstudien resulterade i sex slutsatser vilka bedöms ha avgörande betydelse för en storskalig och verkningsfull stöttning av små och medelstora tillverkande företags gröna omställning. Flertalet av slutsatserna kan vara brett tillämpbara för hela näringslivet. 

Research on support for eco-innovation often focuses on the activities of individual entities such as universities, incubators, and business development organizations. This focus does not give a holistic view of the support available for eco-innovative companies. Thus, we used social network analysis, to analyse intermediation and support activities in a regional support system for eco-innovation. Our findings reveal a regional support system with both central and peripheral actors. The central actors focus on strategic activities, such as articulating of expectations and visions for the entire system while the peripheral actors engage with activities such as resource mobilization and distribution towards individual companies. Altogether the actors in the support system use a combination of different intermediation mechanisms such as transfer, matchmaking, and coordination to interact. Our study provides an overview of a support system for eco-innovation which can serve as a basis to identify missing actors and activities, and build synergies needed to effectively utilize resources to support eco-innovation.

Policy mixes are needed to overcome the different barriers hindering sustainability transitions. This creates the need for policy coherence. Policy coherence studies in sustainability transitions literature are dominated by European cases, limiting their generalizability. This article analyzes policy mixes related to biogas systems and their related coherence issues, and, how that influences biogas production and use in Brazil. We identified policy coherence within and between biogas related sectors and over time, showing how the pre-conditions for biogas production, distribution and use differ considerably between the Brazilian states. This points to a need for decentralized governance structures to enable policy differentiation, as a complement to policy coherence. The article concludes that the characteristics of biogas systems as being locally embedded constitutes a challenge in hierarchical market economies such as Brazil, where policy development, resource mobilization and allocation are highly centralized.

The technology diffusion literature has extensively analysed drivers for and barriers to the adoption of renewable energy technologies. However, there are relatively few studies that analyse drivers and barriers from the perspective of renewable energy technology suppliers. An analysis of the supplier-side is complementary to demand-side studies as policy makers seek to stimulate the international diffusion of renewable energy technologies. The international diffusion of renewable energy technologies is necessary for countries to reach their often-ambitious targets regarding independence from fossil-based energy sources. Thus, the aim of this article is to analyse the drivers for and barriers to the international diffusion of renewable energy technologies from the perspective of technology suppliers. In doing so, a survey was conducted amongst 85 biogas technology suppliers in Sweden, with a 34% response rate. Using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), we analysed differences between their perceived barriers and drivers in the international diffusion of biogas technologies through export. Our findings suggest the need for technology and market-specific export promotion initiatives to complement the generic initiatives available for all exporters and make them more effective.

The circular economy aims to minimize resource inputs and waste and emission outputs of the economy and its organizational subsystems. This can benefit both financial and sustainability performance of companies. To analyze industrial implementation of the concept, the prevalent unit of analysis on the firm level is currently the circular business model. Our investigation of nine Swedish biogas companies and one branch organization indicates a range of conceptual shortcomings that challenges this approach. Our comparative case analysis points towards circular ecosystems being a more appropriate concept to describe the high level of coordination between different stakeholders necessary to implement circular systems. This increases the suitability to analyze, plan, and communicate circular economy systems on an organizational level, especially if value chain integration is low. An ecosystem perspective can thus support innovation and entrepreneurship in the context of the circular economy.

This article examines the implementation of the Swedish national environmental quality objectives and discusses what can be learned for the equivalent process for the set of global UN 2030 goals (SDGs), established in 2015. The empirical basis is a study on 50 large companies in Sweden and their use of these objectives in their policy formulation. The SDGs are crafted with a broader approach than the Swedish national environmental quality objectives. Therefore, the SDGs probably better reflect the agenda of the business community since they have a global character, cover the whole spectrum of important sustainability issues and provide a mutual agenda for the business community worldwide. More than 90 percent of the large companies in the study have explicitly committed themselves to the SDGs, only 1-2 years after they were published, whereas similar commitments hardly exist for the national environmental quality objectives, even 20 years after their establishment. A large majority of the large companies in this study know about the SDGs, have actively endorsed them, and started to adjust their activities accordingly. In the end, the results of these endorsements remain to be seen.

This article contributes to the literature on sustainability transitions, innovation systems, and eco-innovation by addressing conceptual challenges regarding the systemic activities of inter-mediaries. Specifically, the article addresses a research gap pertaining to the ways in which the systemic activities of (eco-)innovation intermediaries can be conceptualised and empirically demonstrated. Empirically, the paper examines selected intermediaries in the context of support systems for eco-innovators in three regions across Finland, Germany, and Sweden. Drawing from our empirical findings and the literature on intermediaries, we conceptualise three system levels within which intermediation occurs: (i) in-between entities in a network, (ii) in-between networks of entities, and (iii) in-between actors, networks, and institutions. Our discussion suggests a heterogeneity of roles that individual intermediaries take at multiple system levels, complementing an emerging, more nuanced perspective of intermediaries in sustainability transitions. Thus, we suggest the term systemic intermediation for describing the system-level activities of intermediaries.

The literature on intermediaries faces challenges regarding how to conceptualise and empirically demonstrate the system-level impact of intermediaries. Thus, researchers and policy analysts may experience difficulties in grasping the potential contributions of intermediaries beyond individual projects and firms to aggregate levels of an innovation system. This article combines innovation intermediary and technological innovation systems literature to develop fundamentals of an approach for analysing how organisations acting as intermediaries support firms in eco-innovation and potentially contribute to technological innovation system functions. The operationalisation of the analytical approach is illustrated using case studies on a total of eight support organisations acting as intermediaries in the region of Scania, Sweden and North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. For researchers and policy analysts, the analytical approach presented in this article offers the opportunity for a step-by-step, comprehensive and transparent analysis of different types of intermediaries, their roles, and potential contributions to innovation system functions.

Strategic spatial planning is important for developing long-termvisions and strategies towards regional and local sustainability.This paper explores if and how strategic spatial planning could beuseful for overcoming some barriers related to new sustainableways of heating residential areas, using district heating systemsbased on industrial excess heat. This longitudinal study builds oninterviews with municipal and private actors in six Swedishmunicipalities. It highlights that important barriers can beovercome by influencing the design and location of residentialdistricts and industrial activities. Further, it identifies missedopportunities in local spatial planning practice as stakeholders areinvolved late in the planning when much is set, leaving littlespace for stakeholders to have an impact. Consequently, theremight be a lack of knowledge and expertise in how such issuescould enhance planning. Strategic spatial planning could facilitateconditions for excess heat-based systems of district heating as itimplies a broader systems perspective which could enhance abroader planning scope. Plan programs could bring about morestrategic spatial planning processes as these require earlystakeholder involvement. If taking stakeholder involvement onestep further to stakeholder collaboration or co-production, aneven broader planning scope would be achieved.

A conceptual gap exists regarding the system level activities of intermediaries. This article addresses this gap by answering research questions about how the system level activities of intermediaries can be conceptualised, and empirical demonstrated. In doing so, we study intermediaries in support systems for eco-innovators in three regions across Finland, Germany and Sweden. From our empirical findings and the literature on systemic intermediaries we conceptualise four systems levels of intermediation: (i) between individual entities, (ii) within networks, (iii) across networks and (iv) within innovation systems. These four conceptual levels are based on: (a) the entities between which the intermediaries operate, (b) the intermediation roles and (c) the scope of appropriation of the potential intermediation benefits. Contrary to previous literature on systemic intermediaries which presents such intermediaries as coherent entities, our discussions suggest a heterogeneity of roles within such intermediaries on multiple system levels which can generate internal tensions. Thus, we introduce the term systemic intermediation as a flexible alternative for describing the system level activities of intermediaries compared to systemic Intermediaries dominant in the literature. For researchers and policy makers, this contribution is an essential step which can facilitate a systematic analysis of the impacts of intermediaries in innovation systems.

Eco-innovation is an approach to environmental sustainability. However, the process of eco-innovation can be challenging especially for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Thus, SMEs might seek external support to tackle some of their challenges in eco-innovation. In this article, we focus on one type of organization providing and also assisting SMEs to access support, intermediaries, i.e. an organization or body that acts as an agent or broker in the innovation process. Intermediaries support firms in the innovation process through various generic and customised activities. To identify such activities and describe the roles intermediaries take in eco-innovation, we conducted interviews and documentation analysis on selected intermediaries in two regions – Scania, Sweden and North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The identified roles among our cases include: (i) forecasting and road mapping, (ii) information gathering and dissemination, (iii) fostering networking and partnerships, (iv) prototyping and piloting, (v) technical consulting, (vi) resource mobilisation, (vii) commercialisation, and (viii) branding and legitimation. In relation to the specific characteristics of eco-innovations, the intermediary roles such as prototyping and piloting, information gathering and dissemination, and branding were directly targeted at validating the environmental benefits of eco-innovations to tackle their “double externality” challenge. However, we found little intermediation activities from our cases directed explicitly at policy change for eco-innovation. For policy makers, our results suggest a complementary use of different types of intermediaries to support eco-innovation.

In this paper, we describe and discuss how in two CDIO-based entrepreneurship courses at Linköping University, Sweden, we encourage students to identify and solve challenges and problems in two adjacent industrial sectors, i.e., environmental technology and agricultural/green industries. Both courses are offered to a broad range of engineering programs. The industrial sectors chosen give the students a delimited context incorporating direction, business culture and technology, that forms a basis for the students on which to build their entrepreneurship cases. Working with real challenges gives real-life experience of how models and frameworks can be utilized and correctly executed. In addition, it increases project relevance, student motivation and learning.

One challenge to overcome is the fact that many students lack previous work-life experience and a thorough knowledge of the industrial sectors in focus. Experiences from earlier courses told us that this made it difficult for students identify and develop realistic, yet challenging and new business ideas on their own to. To remedy this, we tested facilitating interaction with industry, and through this help the students to detect real problems. Furthermore, it was anticipated that interaction with external actors, such as established businesses, organizations and potential customers, helps students to adjust and fine-tune needs and demands to create business ideas that could have real potential. As an added benefit, this approach could enable academia to act as co-creator in industrial problem solving, i.e., to put academic knowledge to practical use in society. Based on our own experiences and student feedback we discuss how this approach forced the students out of their comfort zones, challenged their creativity and enhanced their learning.

This article analyzes how publicly-owned utility companies can remain competitive in liberalized markets. We study EPM, a utility company from Medellin, Colombia. We discuss the companys management model, local laws and regulations affecting it, direct and indirect benefits for the city, and risks resulting from the power it has acquired. It is claimed that early decisions to maintain public ownership of key assets and provide the company with administrative autonomy helped it remain competitive, despite the liberalization of the market. This has allowed the city to increase its revenue and, as a result, its spending on social and environmental projects. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This article studies five Swedish cities, their membership in international city networks, the different motivations for such membership, and their administrations’ expected and perceived benefits. Particular focus is put on sustainability, environmental technology, and municipal companies as potential beneficiaries of such network membership. This study is motivated by the fact that city networks can potentially contribute to global sustainability goals by accelerating the diffusion of innovations, giving members access to bidirectional information flows, improving the user-producer relationship, and providing legitimacy in the potential recipient regimes.

The study relies on a documentation review, the collection of data from the websites of the studied cities and numerous international city networks, and interviews with city officials responsible for international city networks. It was found that four of the five studied cities are active members of international networks for sustainability, but also that there are large gaps between the two largest cities and the rest when it comes to the number of memberships and the geographical outreach they have through the networks they belong to.

Some city officials claim that it is easier to be active in national networks than in international networks, due to time requirements and coordination among so many members. However, city officials see benefits for their municipal companies when they are members of international networks, and these companies are usually independent when it comes to choosing and administering their memberships. It was found that it is difficult to measure direct benefits from network membership, and link improvements in the studied cities to participation in a particular network (with the exception of groups created for a specific infrastructure project, reported as “networks” by the administrations). In addition, there is no apparent direct correlation between membership and diffusion of environmental solutions from municipal companies. However, the administrations expect indirect benefits such as gaining legitimacy and access to milieus where they can share information and best practices, which could lead to the improvement of both local and global environmental conditions.

Strategies for sustainable development are arguably part of the most discussed issues among political and corporate actors. These discussions are spurred by global challenges such as climate change, urbanization, and critical natural resource depletion. Sustainable development will require deep structural and wide-reaching changes in current institutions, technologies, and businesses. Furthermore, new approaches are needed to facilitate the development, diffusion, and implementation of environmental technologies. In the academic discourse different concepts, e.g., ecodesign and Product/Service System design, have been proposed within the framework of sustainable development. To deliver even more system-wide environmental improvements, these concepts have been challenged to be expanded in focus beyond products and services to include large technical systems encompassing non-technological dimensions. Motivated by these, the goal of this article is twofold. First, to offer an expanded view on ecodesign of product/service systems using a perspective of large technical systems. Second, to propose and discuss important components to consider when developing business concepts for the diffusion of large scaled environmental technology systems such as district heating supply, waste management, and renewable energy systems. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews and company documentation analysis, this study examines five companies that develop and diffuse large scaled environmental technology systems. As a result of these case studies, we propose components of business concepts that incorporate both technological and non-technological dimensions. Our proposed business concept components are: market (including regulation), finance, resources, activities, partnership (especially public-private partnership), ownership and responsibility, and legitimacy. Regulation, public-private partnership, and legitimacy are particularly important in the diffusion of large scaled environmental technology systems.

This article focuses on the export of environmental technology by publicly-owned companies. The export of such technologies has the potential to contribute to economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability. However, research on this emerging topic has so far largely focused on privately-owned SMEs compared to publicly-owned companies. Using interviews with twelve Swedish municipally-owned companies which develop such systems and a survey with thirty-six others, we analyse their approaches, drivers for and obstacles to export. These companies use a combination of different approaches such as subsidiaries, independent projects, licensing and private-public partnerships to engage in export. However, in contrast to private companies which are often driven by internal factors such as extra sales, these municipally-owned companies are largely motivated by external factors such as customer requests and opportunities to contribute to environmental sustainability. Furthermore, their main export barriers relate to differences between the business culture and political systems in their home and target markets. Their export experiences are influenced by their municipal ownership, the types of technologies they develop and the institutional contexts within which they operate. This study reveals an actor type struggling to find a balance between domestic obligations and commercialization in international markets.

Export represents a means for the diffusion of environmental technologies with potential socio-economic and environmental benefits. However, environmental technology providers experience export barriers which stifle export and thus several governments continue to formulate export promotion initiatives towards this sector. Although export promotion is identified as essential in the environmental technology policy literature, it is yet to receive attention as to which initiatives are available in different countries including their potential relevance for environmental sustainability. Such knowledge is fundamental for policy learning and transfer including identification of good practices.

To address this knowledge gap, we use market failure and comparative public policy theories to analyse export promotion initiatives from export promotion and export credit agencies across eight countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. Three major conclusions emerge: (1) governmental initiatives to promote environmental technology export can be categorised under financial aid, information provision, education and training, and trade mobility programs; (2) policy choices regarding promotion initiatives are mediated by the institutional context and interests of policy actors (3) relevant aspects of such initiatives for environmental sustainability include the incorporation of particular environmental technology characteristics in initiative formulation, and the prioritisation between different technology and markets types for implementation.

Development and diffusion of new or improved products and services is key to solve sustainability challenges such as climate change, resource depletion and loss of biodiversity. Small firms are important for developing these new solutions, but because of resource constraints they normally have to seek external support from e.g. academia and consultancy firms. This paper discusses how academia can provide such support (e.g. knowledge transfer, assessments and new perspectives) in an effective and efficient manner. To illustrate this, three examples of firms, two monitored over a long period of time, are described using interviews, previous evaluations and project reports for data collection. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This article draws from two bodies of literature, innovation intermediaries and technological innovation systems, to develop an approach for analysing the functions of intermediaries in eco-innovation. The link between the functions of innovation intermediaries and the functions of technological innovation systems has seldom been explicitly established in the scientific discourse and thus this article contributes to theoretical development in both literatures. To the technological innovation systems literature, this article addresses the lack of attention to the functions of innovation intermediaries who are a critical part in the formation of networks and also contribute to a number of innovation system functions. To the innovation intermediary literature, the functional approach advocates for a synthesis and consensus building in the literature regarding intermediary functions in view of the several redundancies and ambiguities on the subject matter. Empirical operationalization of the analytical approach including methodological choices from case studies in Region Scania, Sweden and North Rhine Westphalia, Germany are also discussed. The results of our analysis show that the functions of the innovation intermediaries are particularly relevant for the overall goals of an innovation system as compared to the configuration of intermediary actors. Particular challenges with a functional approach in this context include the difficulties of establishing a causal relation between the support functions of intermediaries and eco-innovation outcomes in firms.

This article combines the theoretical field of Industrial Symbiosis (IS) with a business model perspective to increase the knowledge about drivers and barriers behind the emergence of excess heat supply collaborations between district heating companies and industrial firms. The increased knowledge is gained by identifying and examining drivers and barriers associated with collaborative efforts to funnel excess heat produced by industrial firms into district heating grids in Sweden. An increased recovery of excess heat has the potential to reduce the primary energy demands of district heating systems. This study examines both existing and potential developments of industrial collaborations of excess heat-based district heating systems. The focus of the study consists of two Swedish cases of existing collaboration between district heating companies and pulp and paper industries as well as 16 industrial firms that all produce unused excess heat as a by-product. Confirming earlier research results, this study shows that financial issues are both the main drivers and the main barriers behind the emergence and development of inter-organisational collaborations. In addition, this study confirms earlier research that found the trust, joint problem solving, and fine-grained information transfer are important elements of successful collaboration. This study complements and clarifies these three features by including honesty and shared visions on common goals as important qualities needed for well-functioning collaborations. Combining the IS and the business model perspective has made it possible to examine more factors related to collaboration. The business model perspective has contributed with knowledge about central components of the business agreement between the collaborating parties, and the IS-perspective has contributed knowledge of the important organisational factors behind the emergence and development of long-term sustainable business agreements between firms.

Eco-innovation continues to gain support as a driving force for sustainable development. In this regard, pressing questions include how to stimulate the development, diffusion and use of eco-innovations. Often, firms engaged with eco-innovation need to connect to intermediary organizations (e.g. business development organizations, regional clusters, universities, financers, incubators) to get hold of necessary resources to tackle the challenges in the innovation process. This article analyses the functions of such intermediary organizations for eco-innovation by focusing on public–owned business development organizations and cluster initiatives in the Region Scania, Sweden and North Rhine Westphalia, Germany.  We synthesise at least eight functions of intermediaries for eco-innovation as: (i) forecasting and road mapping (ii) resource mobilization (iii) networking and partnerships (iv) commercialization (v) technical consulting (vi) information scanning and distribution (vii) sector branding and legitimation (viii) prototyping and piloting.  The support functions often take a “one-size-fits-all” approach with few initiatives particularly tailored for eco-innovations. This can be explained by the market complementarity roles of public intermediaries, their resource constraints and the cross-sectoral nature of eco-innovation. Even though, intermediary functions are often appreciated by clients and financers, it is often difficult to establish a causal relation between the support and eco-innovation outcomes, a challenge which undermines the existence of intermediaries themselves. Despite these challenges, potential good practices point to a mix between general “one-size-fits-all” and tailored support activities for different types of eco-innovations and firms. Furthermore, interaction between various types of intermediaries is important since there are often numerous actors and initiatives working with eco-innovation which can confuse firms. When it comes to stimulating radical eco-innovations, a proactive approach to intermediation is particularly important. 

Some countries rely heavily on exports as an essential component of their economic competitiveness. With the current trends in economic globalization, promoting exports has become a common strategy to boost economic growth. Exports of environmental technologies represent a new window of opportunity for economic growth and a contribution to global sustainability. With this in mind, national governments have designed initiatives that aim to promote exports within this sector. To address their objectives, governments provide initiatives to promote foreign commerce with their environmental technology sector. This article assesses the awareness, participation, and perceived effectiveness of such governmental initiatives to promote exports among Swedish environmental technology firms. An Internet survey was sent to 693 Swedish environmental technology companies, previously identified and classified, with a 25% response rate. The responses show a relatively high export orientation although a majority of the respondents claimed they were unaware of governmental initiatives that fit their particular export needs. The companies that did find appropriate governmental initiatives showed a high level of participation in such initiatives, but only a few of these participants could relate their participation to actual exports. The findings suggest there is a need to design support instruments based on the particular characteristics of the environmental technology sector rather than to offer generic solutions for such export promotion.

Major societal changes which challenge societal functions and actors activities are needed to enhance sustainable development. Thus sustainable transitions research emphasizes co-evolutionary approaches involving a multitude of actors including the business sector, the government, and academia. Academic research can catalyse sustainable transitions by critically analyse current societal trends to develop and disseminate new knowledge. At research conferences, researchers and practitioners meet to network and discuss recent research findings providing arenas for testing and evaluating ideas to enhance sustainable transitions. This however requires some modifications of the standard design of a research conference. Here we report learning outcomes from experimenting at the 18th international Greening of Industry Network conference during 21-24 October 2012 in Linkoping, Sweden. The conference was a combination of a traditional conference structure with different interactive elements such as sustainability jam-sessions to discuss future challenges of six companies and clusters of companies at their site. The intention of doing so was to enhance learning outcomes both for visiting conference delegates and among actors in the host region. This was perceived by the participants as an innovative approach fostering both problem solving and creation of new ideas. Four out of the six companies continued dialogues about sustainable production fields or bio-refineries with Linkoping University. In addition we introduce and summarize research findings presented at the conference which were further developed into research articles. The essence of these articles covers sustainable industry management; cleaner production; industrial ecology; cooperation between industry, governments and academics; dissemination of concepts and technologies; methods and tools for modelling and measuring of industrial symbiosis, CO2 performance and eco-efficiency.

This article presents a concept for creating arenas where expertise from certain branches of industry can interact with sustainability professionals and researchers to address and solve sustainability challenges. The concept Sustainability Jam Session (SJS) builds upon the idea of conducting creative meetings between professionals in “jam sessions,” similar to those associated primarily with music and improvisation. Approaches such as these have been used in the IT sector over the past decades, but this is the first attempt to apply it in the area of sustainability. SJS's were tested at the 2012 Greening of Industry Network Conference (GIN2012) and here we report our experiences from arranging six SJS's at the conference.

A typical process of an SJS includes a preparatory phase, the actual jam, and documentation and follow up. The preparatory phase mainly involves identifying hosts and topics to be addressed at the SJS, followed by attracting participants. The jam is started by an introduction of the topics, a technical visit (if appropriate), and a problem-solving workshop, ending with a wrap-up reporting. Thorough documentation is necessary for following up the results of the SJS and preparing for implementation of the identified solutions.

We conclude that skill, structure, setting, and surrender of control, as well as finding “red and hot” topics for the jams are the key factors for successful SJS's.

Based on our experiences from GIN2012, we recommend other research conferences in the sustainability field use SJS's if the intention is to boost the interaction between the conference and the host region or non-academic organizations in general. We also suggest that a similar approach can be used in regional development for creating an infrastructure for learning and transformation towards sustainability and initiatives for open innovation.

This paper studies five Swedish municipalities, their memberships in international city networks, the different motivations to be members of them, and the expected and perceived benefits from doing so. A particular focus is put on sustainability, environmental technology, and municipal companies as potential beneficiaries of such memberships. This study is motivated by the fact that networks have been reported by literature to accelerate the diffusion of innovation, give members access to two-way information flows, improve the user-producer relationship and provide legitimacy in the potential recipient regimes. Using a documentation review and interviews with city officials responsible for international city networks, the conclusions relate to the active participation of the studied cities in international networks, but also to the large gaps between the two largest ones and the rest when it comes to the number of memberships and the geographical reach they have through the networks they belong to. Also, cities see benefits for their municipal companies when they belong to such networks, and these companies are usually independent when it comes to choosing and administering their memberships. It was found that the benefits from belonging to international networks are difficult to monitor and measure objectively, and that there is no apparent direct correlation between membership and diffusion of environmental solutions from municipal companies.

This paper uses a multidisciplinary and systematic review of 45 journal articles and two case interviews to investigate the role of public support organizations in the development of eco-innovations. Even though eco-innovations are regarded as a driving force within sustainable development, entrepreneurs developing such innovations face barriers such as lack of some technical expertise, limited financial, time and human resources. Generally, two aspects are needed for eco-innovation support i.e. support for technology as well as business development. The selected public support organizations offered business development support through networking, bridging and financing. However, preliminary findings on their current support activities indicate bridging to other actors who can provide technical expertise such as environmental impact assessment and eco-design could be a promising addition to business development. Potential further research includes deeper empirical investigations on the role of public support actors in the development of eco-innovations.

In recent years, strategies for sustainable development are arguably among the most discussed issues among political, public and corporate actors. These discussions are spurred by major trends such as climate change, rapid urbanization, critical material and energy resource depletion. To facilitate sustainable development, deep structural and wide reaching changes seem needed in current technologies, infrastructure, businesses and institutions. In the academic discourse, different concepts, methods and tools, have been proposed and continue to be expounded within the framework of sustainable development. Notable among them include the concepts of ecodesign, and product and service systems design. These concepts have contributed to environmental improvements but have been challenged by critics to be expanded beyond products and services to include non-technological changes in order to deliver system wide environmental improvements.

Departing from this background, the goal of this article is twofold, first to offer an expanded view on environmental conscious design of products and services with large scaled sociotechnical systems and then to propose and discuss important components to consider when developing business concepts based on large scaled environmental technology systems. In doing this, we offer a new way of describing business concepts based on large scaled environmental technology systems which incorporates non-technological dimensions such as meeting formal and informal expectations. We propose a set of components to consider when developing business concepts based on large scaled environmental technology offering. These components are: market (including regulations), finance, resources, activities, partnership (especially public-private partnership), ownership and responsibility, and legitimacy. Among these factors, regulation, public-private partnership, and legitimacy were  found as particular for environmental technology diffusion.

Technological transitions and governance theories are employed for the analysis of the dissemination behavior of Bus Rapid Transit systems in Latin America. This process presents interesting characteristics and traits that seem to facilitate the overcoming of barriers and act as catalysts for the adoption of innovation. The present study uses a systems perspective to explore the dynamics of Bus Rapid Transit's adoption by different cities in the region and to follow its geographical dissemination, relying on historical data collected on numerous implemented projects.

The resulting analysis provides an insight on the determinants and key points for the concept's expansion, which may be useful for the study of the dissemination of environmental technologies in cities. Contextualized, solid demonstration projects and incremental innovations, it is here argued, facilitated the adoption of new ways and promoted the dissemination of this urban mobility solution within a homogenous group of cities. A description of the Bus Rapid Transit system's approach to barriers that are also found to hinder the dissemination of environmental technologies provides a learning basis for future dissemination strategies.

Rapid international and widespread diffusion of environmental technologies remains an essential requirement within the framework of sustainable development. Export offers a desired means for technology diffusion due to its strategic flexibility compared to other means such as foreign direct investment and aid. However, the export of environmental technologies is stifled by market failures. Among other reasons and as a response to such market failures, several governments are formulating initiatives to promote the export of environmental technologies. Although diffusion promotion is highlighted as an important research focus, a systematic overview of governmental initiatives that aim to promote environmental technology export is not available in the literature. This gap in the literature makes it difficult to analyse program effectiveness, and identify best practices. Using documentation from export promotion and export credit agencies in eight selected countries across Asia, Europe, and North America, we discuss governmental initiatives that aim to promote the export of environmental technologies. Our synthesis reveals that governmental promotion can be categorised according to alternative promotional services and is applied across target country(ies), environmental technology type(s), firm size(s),  and firm involvement in export. In addition, using theories from market failure and diffusion studies, we discuss similarities and differences between country initiatives. Trends indicate a focus on support for small and medium sized environmental technology exporters but interesting differences emerge with the choice of target markets, technologies, and the specific export promotion services.

This report presents the results of a research project on environmental technology diffusion and the dynamics of business arenas within the sector, with two megacities as case studies: Mexico City and Cairo. The term “environmental technologies” is used in a broad sense, referring to technological solutions that contribute to the improvement of the environmental performance of cities. With this in mind, a focus on the demand side (i.e. the cities) is the point of departure, and a bottom-up approach to urban sustainability is one of the most important methodological choices. This means that local actors belonging to selected (but representative) societal sectors were interviewed and their views and opinions considered for subsequent discussions about the important conditions to keep in mind when thinking of exploring these markets.

A subsequent exploration of the supply side (i.e. Swedish environmental technology suppliers) is presented with the intention to show the sector’s composition and to describe and analyze the interactions among the main actors, the current strategies for the sector’s promotion in foreign markets and the conditions promoting or hindering further advancement.

Transition Management theories are used as a theoretical basis to support the analysis and the methodological choices. Conclusions and recommendations are given regarding the current state of the cities and the suppliers, the strategic choices made by the government and some of the conditions that must be considered by the government and companies in order to successfully deploy their plans. Such conclusions and recommendations can be useful for policy makers, entrepreneurs and researchers in the field of technology diffusion and urban environmental studies:

• Megacities are looking for adaptive and flexible offerings. Technological solutions that align with local structures (social, political, cultural and physical) and can adapt to actual needs (cf. apparent needs), might overcome more easily the initial unrest and distrust that new concepts bring along.
• The micro and macro levels in the city deserve each a different language. Solutions and their implications must be translated according to the needs and expectations of actors in each level.
• Legitimacy and trust are gained more easily with the help of strong demonstration (proof-of-concept) projects. Even better, providing graspable (i.e. contextualized), full-working examples of solutions operating within homogeneous groups helps to overcome resistance and lubricates the implementation.
• Holistic solutions represent an interesting opportunity but face significant difficulties. This is due to their nature of being tightly tied to context and location and the complications that they must overcome under sometimes diametrically opposite milieus.

This article identifies and elaborates on preconditions, drivers and barriers behind the development of excess heat based systems of district heating in Sweden. Industrial excess heat based district heating systems are considered generally resource-efficient since it could reduce the use of fossil fuels and emissions of greenhouse gases by saving primary energy for district heating companies supplying heat to their heating customers. An increased recovery of excess heat from industrial processes and thermal power generation has great potential to reduce primary energy demands.

Collaboration around heat supply is relatively rare. There is an increase but still, the increase is low compared to the supply of excess heat from the industrial processes within the country. Increased knowledge of the important aspects necessary for the collaborations to evolve could mean greater opportunities to facilitate the development of excess heat based systems of district heating.

The aim of the study is to investigate important preconditions behind the development of excess heat based systems of district heating. It includes two existing cases of excess heat-based district heating systems in two different Swedish communities. The results are analyzed based on previous findings of the emergence and development of industrial collaborations within the research field of Industrial Symbiosis (IS).

The results from the study show that relations based on; trust, honesty, shared visions on common goals, information transfer and joint problem solving are necessary for these collaborations to develop.

These features are also important when it comes to the decision making process. This since knowledge through participation from relevant stakeholders within the collaboration is required to understand and translate the common goals and objectives into practice.

In addition, we argue that investment subsidies are important for the future development of excess heat based systems of district heating, as a way to facilitate and encourage the long-time environmental benefits for the parties involved as well as the society at large.

Introduction-This report is based on structured literature reviews and brainstorming sections on governmental export promotion initiatives for environmental technology in selected countries. It is intended to answer two fundamental questions: why governments intervene to promote environmental technology export and how this intervention is actually executed. These questions emerged in-light of two general challenges: 1) the lack of vivid scientific insights with robust theoretical underpinnings on governmental efforts to promote environmental technology export, 2) the necessity to diffuse environmental technology across borders based on the facts that some environmental technologies have a pressing demand in countries other than their home origin and that most emerging economies are now facing environmental challenges which have long existed in many developed countries.

Approach-A structured literature review which covered public export promotion agencies and export credit agencies in the top three environmental technology exporting countries (Germany, USA, and Japan); Scandinavian environmental technology competitors to Sweden (Finland, Denmark, Norway); other European competitor (Austria) and China as an emerging exporter was employed to identify governmental export promotion initiatives. For a deeper insight Austria, Denmark and Sweden were purposively selected for an analysis into their public ‘‘action’’ plans to promote environmental technology including exports. The empirical findings were then discussed in brainstorming sections using theories and best practices to come out with conclusions, some recommendations and further questions.

Findings-The economic justification for government involvement in export promotion is based on the theory of asymmetric information and other market failures. The market has so far not shown enough signs of inherently diffusing environmental technologies to the desired societal level, thus the need for government intervention. Governmental intervention for environmental technology export promotion are organised by one or a combination of the following in the reviewed countries: by prioritized target countries; by prioritized environmental technologies; by alternative services (information, financial, training and education, trade and mobility related programs); by firm size (large vs. small) and by firm stage in internationalization. With regards to specific action plans, crosscutting focus remains on support for small and medium enterprises; strategies in Austria and Denmark to promote environmental technologies in aggregation focus on policy information provision to enterprises whiles technology and business development is given priority in Sweden.

Concluding remarks-The report concludes with some remarks and further questions to stir up the debate and understanding on governmental initiatives for environmental technology export promotion. Highlights include 1) the recommendation for the provision of more detailed market information to export oriented firms recognizing the importance of externalities involved in gathering such information by private firms, 2) the need for mutual collaboration between governmental export promotion agencies and their initiatives which could be confusingly large within a country and  3) a hybridization of focus on policy instruments and technology & business development in-line with the complex ecosystem of interactions between market information and the innovation of environmental technologies.

Further questions-Several questions remain to be answered. Among them include: 1) Which theories could be used to justify governmental intervention through export promotion of environmental technologies? 2) What, When and How to measure the effectiveness of such governmental export promotion initiatives and 3) How the inherent characteristics of environmental technologies have (or should) influence their export promotion remain to be answered.

Some countries have historically relied to a great extent on exports as an important component of theireconomic system. With the current globalization trends and increased competitiveness, promotingexports has therefore become a common strategy in order to boost economic growth. Exports ofenvironmental technologies represent a new window of opportunity for economic growth and acontribution to global sustainability. For this objective, governments provide different initiativesaimed at promoting foreign commerce among firms. The aim of this article is to assess the perceptionof the effectiveness of governmental initiatives for export promotion among Swedish environmentaltechnology firms. In addition, the article addresses firms’ internal initiatives to reach potential foreignmarkets through the use of modern communication channels. Data about 728 Swedish environmentaltechnology companies was collected and analyzed by using a combination of desktop research and aweb-based survey. The findings show a relatively high export orientation among the respondentcompanies. However, a majority of the respondents claim not to be aware of governmental initiativesthat fit their particular needs. Those who do show a high level of participation in such initiatives, butmost could not relate this participation to successful businesses abroad. From the firms’ perspective,presence on the Internet was considered to be a plausible indicator of their internal initiatives tocapture potential foreign customers. An analysis of the companies’ web sites, their languagecustomization options and the information they provide was undertaken. Results show that a largenumber of companies have functional web sites. However, the percentage of web sites with languagecustomization options was relatively low.The findings suggest that governmental initiatives have to consider the particular composition andneeds of the environmental technology sector in order to be more effective. On the other hand,although companies show to be proactive in the use of the Internet for increasing their outreach,language customization must be addressed as an important component when using such a tool. Bothgovernmental and firms’ initiatives remain important contributions to export success. In this regard,collaboration and communication between governmental export promotion agencies and firmsrepresents an important first step.

This article identifies and examines the preconditions, drivers, and barriers associated with collaborative efforts to funnel excess heat produced by industry into district heating grids in Sweden. Large energy-intensive manufacturing industries generating large amounts of excess heat could use this otherwise-wasted industrial excess heat in systems of district heating. Using excess heat recovery in district heating grids is currently one of the most cost effective ways of providing additional heat to district heating systems. This study examines what is required for industries with excess heat production to collaborate with the district heating sector. Specifically, we analyse the preconditions behind the development of successful heat supply collaborations from an Industrial Symbiosis (IS) perspective by examine 16 industries that all produce excess heat as a by-product that is not externally used. For the industries to be willing to  enter excess heat collaboration with the district heating sector, we found that the important preconditions are mainly financial. However, we also found that there are certain organizational issues, such as relationships based on trust and personal ties that play an important role in the development of long-term successful excess heat collaborations between companies or other organizations and the district heating sector.

This article identifies and elaborates on the preconditions, drivers, and barriers behind the development of excess heat-based systems for district heating in Sweden. Industrial excess heat-based district heating systems are generally considered resource-efficient because they reduce the use of fossil fuels and the emissions of greenhouse gases. An increased recovery of excess heat from industrial processes and thermal power generation could significantly reduce primary energy demands.

Although collaboration around heat supply in Sweden has increased, the utilization is low compared to the supply of excess heat produced as the result of industrial processes. Increased knowledge about how collaborations evolve could mean greater opportunities for the development of excess heat-based systems for district heating.

The study includes two Swedish cases of excess heat-based district heating systems. Using approaches developed within Industrial Symbiosis (IS), we analyse how industrial collaborations with respect to excess heat-based systems emerge and develop. For these collaborations to develop, relationships based on trust, honesty, shared goals, information transfer, and joint problem solving were necessary. These features are also important when it comes to the decision making process because knowledge gained through the participation of stakeholders is required to understand common goals and objectives and to translate them into practice. The organisational features are also important in order to overcome financial and technical barriers to such collaboration.

In addition, we argue that investment subsidies can encourage the development of excess heat-based systems for district heating and can provide long-term environmental benefits for industry as well as for society at large.

This paper examines the importance of strategic spatial planning associated with the existence and development of district heating. Within the planning of new residential developments in Sweden, local authorities have the authority to influence the future development of the energy systems. The aim of this study is two-fold: to examine whether and how district heating issues are addressed in municipal spatial planning of new residential areas and to discuss how Swedish planning legislation can improve the conditions for resource efficient district heating. The study includes an investigation of the planning process in six Swedish municipalities. The results show that the district heating companies generally participate late in the planning process. This delay means that important information often fails to be exchanged between the local authorities and the district heating companies, a lack of communication that undermines a widened systemic approach and long-term planning which are important preconditions for effective decision-making.

This report contains the results from the project SEAMLESS, Strategic Environmental Assessment and Management in Local authoritiES in Sweden. The aim of SEAMLESS was to explore conceptual foundations as well as feasibility of establishing better operational and methodological linkages between tools for strategic environmental planning, assessment and management, especially between SEA (according to the EG directive 2001/42/EC and EMS based on the main principles of ISO 14001/EMAS) in local authorities. The rationale for the study was that local authorities are important actors on the environmental arena, which make and implement a large number of decisions directly and indirectly affecting the environment. A multitude of different systems and tools have been developed to support environmental management at local authorities and an integrated use of different tools can have various benefits.

The SEAMLESS project has been realized through five main steps. First, a literature review and a survey of international practice were performed. Second, in parallel to the first step, an initial conceptual framework was constructed. The third step in the research process was to carry out case studies in six selected Swedish local authorities in order get a better understanding of how SEA and EMS are dealt with in practice. In the fourth step, the results from the previous steps in the research process were compiled and analyzed in order to develop and conduct a pilot study. Finally in the fifth step, general recommendations for integrated use of strategic planning, assessment and management tools were formulated.

Theoretically, local sustainable development strategies could benefit from having influence from some of the main approaches and principles in SEA and EMS methodologies. Achieving this in practice, however, is a challenge that requires a wide systems perspective and a certain degree of maturity in the organization. At the time of SEAMLESS an integrated approach of SEA and EMS was not possible nor asked for by the studied local authorities.

The SEAMLESS project’s core concepts tool technique and tool practice were used for explaining and analyzing the preconditions, possibilities and difficulties in integrating SEA and EMS. Tool technique addresses the more technical aspects of the tools use and integration, neglecting the context in which it is to be used. Applying a tool technique perspective there are several possible linkages between the studied tools that could enhance each tool, e.g. widening the scope of EMS and facilitating follow up of SEA. It is important to understand the context, since it influences the feasibility of tool integration; therefore a tool practice perspective is needed.

Furthermore tool integration is another important concept in the SEAMLESS project, where three different stages of integration were identified: formal integration, learning integration and interactive integration. A too strong focus on formal integration (which is closely connected to tool technique) might lead to that potential linkages are not realized. To make such integration possible the focus should be more on learning integration. Interactive integration is hard to achieve and it can be questioned if it is desired. Too much focus on interactive integration might lead to complex resource demanding tool causing ineffectiveness and tool fatigue.

The SEAMLESS project resulted in a set of recommendations based on that integration should not be seen as a goal in itself; that attempts of tool integration should focus on bridging the different professional cultures; and that a wide systems perspective is needed.

As cities have become home for 50% of the world‟s population, urban systems have definitely caught public attention. The urban metabolism can be improved by transforming their linear behavior into a more circular one. This paper is based on a project initiated by the Division of Environmental Technology and Management at Linköping university, financed by Vinnova: Megatech. The aim is to study the megacities of Cairo and Mexico City in order to understand some of the problems they are facing. By improving their energy and material flows behavior, these megacities can benefit from the reduction of their dependence on fossil fuels and virgin materials; the protection of part of their social, economic and productive systems from external factors (e.g. political drawbacks, shortage/distribution problems, international prices); an increased effectiveness of their planning activities–as they would be based to a large extent on their own resources–and the reduction of their environmental burden. An in situ study will take place with the participation of local stakeholders. Information about environmental problems will be collected and potential solutions will be analyzed and suggested. A tentative model is presented, showing how the reinsertion of the outflows into the urban system could benefit these cities‟ overall environmental performance.

This paper describes market barriers experienced by Swedish innovators in start-up companies early in the process of bringing environmental innovations to the market. The studied innovators are mainly active in a business-to-business market that often involves capital-intensive industry sectors and large companies are seen as important customers. Most of the market barriers identified can be related to customer relations. The innovators experience their customers’ negative attitudes and unwillingness to try new technologies as major barriers. Furthermore, they perceived their customers to be conservative and reluctant to take risks. These barriers may be relevant in most innovation developments although they may be more articulated for environmental innovations since such innovations mostly evolve in emerging industries and since capital-intensive industry sectors dominate the area. Measures to stimulate diffusion of environmental innovation are discussed, including ways to encourage customers to test new technologies and to see the adoption of the innovation as worth the perceived risks.