Search results

Research universities are recognized as primary sources of the knowledge essential to the development of innovative solutions to a wide range of economic, social, and ecological problems that affect humankind. This utilitarian function of American higher education dates back to the creation of land grant institutions with the passing of the Morrill Act of 1862 (Lucas, 1994; Veysey, 1965). The prominent higher education historian John R. Thelin (2004) described the importance of this land grant legislation by stating, “Its institutional legacy was the accessible state college and university, characterized by a curriculum that was broad and utilitarian” (p. 76). Shifts in the research paradigm that followed the World War II placed further emphasis on applied research that was to be “directed toward some individual or group or societal need or use” (Stokes, 1997, p. 8). Most recently, the utilitarian function of higher education has become closely linked to the commercialization of knowledge and discovery. Specifically, the passing of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, which allowed colleges and universities to take ownership of intellectual properties created in part or in full through federal funding, allowed the transfer of knowledge from higher education to society through market channels to become standard practice.

In the 1930s, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were developed as safe, non-reactive alternatives to toxic and explosive refrigerants and propellants such as ammonia, chloromethane, and sulfur dioxide. American engineer Thomas Midgley famously demonstrated these properties by inhaling Freon (CFC-12) and blowing out a candle with it. He was presented with many awards for his discoveries, such as the Perkin, Priestley, and William Gibbs medals. In today's jargon, CFCs might have been called an eco-innovation, because they provided solutions to several environmental issues. However, CFCs solved environmental problems by creating others. In 1974, Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina published their pathbreaking research that demonstrated CFCs were depleting the ozone layer. In 1989, the Montreal Protocol, which regulates a global phaseout of CFCs, entered into force. A few years later, in 1995, Rowland and Molina received the Nobel Price in Chemistry. The new substitutes for CFCs, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), have no known effects on the ozone layer but are extremely potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) and thus subject to the Kyoto Protocol.

Eco-entrepreneurship has emerged as an intensively debated topic over the last few years with a recent upsurge of writing in the field. At the same time, the debate on this topic has moved increasingly from journals focused on environmental management (Schaltegger, 2002) to mainstream business journals (Cohen & Winn, 2007; Dean & McMullen, 2007). The topic of eco-entrepreneurship lies at the nexus of innovation, concern for the environment, and entrepreneurship. Yet, most contributions to date remain conceptual or focus on reporting case studies (Schaltegger, 2002; Schaltegger & Petersen, 2001). Rarely found are results and analyses of larger-scale empirical surveys on the topic, and it is this gap in the literature that this chapter addresses.

Is eco-entrepreneurship (the provision of new products, processes, services with environmental benefits) different from standard entrepreneurship, where the emphasis is on the provision of private goods, processes, and services? In some sense, it must be because of the nature of the public goods outcome. There will be measurement and enforcement problems in eco-entrepreneurship that exceed those found for more standard new ventures. It is for these reasons government is normally associated with the provision of public goods. At the same time, however, society is increasingly turning to private individuals to respond to growing demands for environmental improvement. Private entrepreneurs are seen as reacting more quickly, more completely, and more precisely to environmental concerns. New technology, on which many environmental benefits are linked, typically requires private entrepreneurs to engage in discovery, development, and delivery. Business plans are prepared and presented to venture capitalists and other investors seeking to capture the private returns from these new ventures that also provide critical public goods. Yet, eco-entrepreneurship is not well understood regarding its motives, returns, products, services, organization, and property rights.

A growing academic literature seeks to define corporate environmental management (CEM) and understand its implications for corporate behavior and environmental outcomes. However, the research questions are of more than just academic interest, as the answers have immediate consequences for business strategy, environmental quality, and the relationship between CEM and public policy. How does CEM differ from more general notions of corporate management? Are there incentives for CEM that go beyond improving the bottom line? Does CEM produce genuine improvements in environmental performance, or is it simply a public relations form of “green-washing”? To what extent, if any, does CEM serve as a complement or substitute for more centralized forms of environmental policy? Questions such as these are the focus of theoretical and applied research in a variety of disciplines, including, but not limited to, economics, sociology, psychology, political science, management, and industrial ecology.

This chapter provides more in-depth focus on the intersection of innovation and entrepreneurship and the associated capacities for creating diverse forms of change. More specifically, the theoretical underpinning of entrepreneurship is carefully introduced in order to illuminate and extenuate its role as the mechanism that makes novel products and processes available to society where impact of various types can be realized.

New mindsets and innovative thinking (ABIS, 2017; Moon, 2013, 2014, 2015; Moon, Walmsley, & Apostolopoulos, 2018) are needed to deliver on everything from good health and well-being to affordable and clean energy. This chapter reviews the latest trends globally to tackling pressing social and environmental problems (2016–2018), focuses on a sample of 100 projects, mapped against the UN SDGs and evaluated on their ‘innovation’ and scalability and selects 25 projects related to ‘circular economy’ solutions for a more in-depth consideration. The projects cover a range of applications including Buildings, Food, Energy, Transportation, Resources and Education. The key research question is: what strategic policy support is needed for enterprise & entrepreneurship education to develop the necessary multi collaborative and cross disciplinary mindsets and skills that such projects require? Reference is made to global risks and sustainability solutions, skills needed for the green economy and implications for enterprise development and entrepreneurship education. Findings reveal the need for new measures of eco and social mindset that will support the development of the creative and innovative solutions necessary for tackling the UN SDGs.

The gap between the self-declarations of buyers as responsible consumers and the purchase of sustainable products means that consumer knowledge needs to be examined in depth, to guide the initiatives of eco-entrepreneurs towards sectors and demands that will make them viable and to advance responsible production and consumption – Objective 12: Sustainable Development 2030. The purpose of this study is to analyse the profile of consumers in relation to the purchase of ecolabelled products and to establish relations between purchasing decisions with environmental, social and ethical factors.

Multiple correspondence analysis is applied to the results of a questionnaire administered to a sample of 407 consumers resident in Spain. Information is gathered on environmental, social and economic concerns and the importance consumers attach to certain product attributes such as ecolabels, price and quality.

Consumers concerned over environmental, social and economic questions attached greater importance to information on ecolabels, principally within the textile, and drugstore sectors, followed by electrical and electronic appliances and the food sector. These consumers selected ecolabelled products with a good quality–price relationship.

The academic and business value of this research is its focus on the attributes of sustainable products so that eco-entrepreneurs may advance initiatives that are at once viable and sustainable, motivating consumers with concerns over environmental, social and economic issues.