Industrial Ecology and Spaces of Innovation

This book explores the interface between two disciplines - industrial ecology (IE) and innovation studies (IS). Both hold dear their contribution to the aim of instigating environmental improvement and more sustainable futures. IE is predicated on the idea that social and economic systems mirror, or should be made to mirror, natural ecological systems. Proponents of IE devise models and techniques to trace material and energy resource flows as they move through social and economic systems. They propose policy and management improvements to increase the resource efficiency of such systems. By contrast, IS researchers work with the idea that innovation is a dynamic activity, vital to social and economic change and is shaped by a range of actors, in industry, in government and in households. The authors illustrate the conceptual and practical problems and opportunities of working across this bi-disciplinary interface, with case studies presented from each and from hybrid perspectives that draw on both. New directions for conceptual development and further research are also offered.Green, Ken is the author of 'Industrial Ecology and Spaces of Innovation', published 2006 under ISBN 9781845420970 and ISBN 1845420977.