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The transition from current linear economy toward a circular economy (CE) needs the adoption and diffusion of circular economy innovation (CEI). However, the rate and direction of CEI influenced by policy instruments are still not well understood. This paper explores the roles of demand-pull and technology-push policy instruments in shaping CEI in Europe. The different impacts on the adoption across different sectors and the specific effects on each circularity innovation pattern are also examined. The findings indicate that both command-and-control regulation and technology-push instruments are significant in stimulating Small Medium Enterprises' (SMEs') adoption of CEI. While the environmental tax hinders SMEs' implementation of CEI in the whole economic activity sectors, it is a significant driver of CEI for SMEs in the manufacturing sector. The technology-push instrument strongly encourages SMEs to invest in re-planning and re-designing activities to minimize the usage or maximize the re-usage of water, energy, and materials. Environmental tax highly determines SMEs' adoption of CEI related to improving energy efficiency. In contrast, the command-and-control regulation significantly increases SMEs' likelihood to undertake innovation activity in minimizing waste by recycling or reusing the waste. Our study elucidates the potential interactions between policy instruments and CEI, paving the way toward the desirable CE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grassroots Innovation is a typology of innovation that develops in civil society and is driven by social and ideological concerns. This paper focuses on the strategies of resistance developed by Grassroots movements in response to capture and mainstreaming processes and on the role that ideology has in the evolution of Grassroots Innovation. The study refers to the Arenas of Development framework. The adoption of a flat ontology allows to overcome the dichotomy between niche and regime and the focus on market breakthrough. It permits to consider social and political issues, and interactions between different arenas with different perspectives. The notion of actor-world used to define arenas' focus and boundaries allows to stress the role of ideology in evolutionary pathways. The analysis is based on a case study on Organic in Europe, that leads to consider three different arenas: the Grassroots arena, the EU Common Agricultural Policy arena, and the Global retail/agrifood arena. The arenas approach Organic with different lenses, interact and co-evolve. The recent ideological repositioning of the Grassroots arena brought it to the development of a strategy of resistance based on alliances with other arenas of civil society and on both confrontation and separateness with the other Organic arenas. • The actor-world concept allows to stress the role of ideology in innovation paths. • Arenas engage in multiple directions, beyond the societal function of reference. • Ideological cleavage can be constitutive for Grassroots arenas. • The Grassroots Organic arena engages in the creation of a cultural counter-hegemony. • IFOAM 3.0 strategy fits with a reflexive recognition of existing Organic arenas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper we explore the drivers of different types of eco-innovation in European SMEs. Drawing upon a database of 27 European countries, empirical evidence is found for the different roles of supply-side, demand-side and regulatory factors in encouraging the adoption of different types of eco-innovation. Our empirical strategy consists of the estimation of a trivariate probit model. Our results show that those entrepreneurs who give importance to collaboration with research institutes, agencies and universities, and to the increase of market demand for green products are more active in all types of eco-innovations. Supply-side factors seem to be a more important driver for environmental processes and organizational innovations than for environmental product innovations. The results also show that market share only has a significant positive influence on eco-product and eco-organizational innovations, while cost-savings are solely significant for eco-process innovations. Finally, prioritizing existing regulations shapes eco-product and eco-organizational innovations while expected regulations and access to subsidies and fiscal incentives do not have any significant effect on the decision to eco-innovate in Europe at the firm-level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]