Water Innovation, Economic Development and Green Catching-up: Investigating the Europe - China InnovationBalance

Increasing global economic development affects the greening of the economy in multiple ways which is littleresearched. Applying evolutionary economic theory the paper investigates trends in and possibly changes to theinternational division of labour in eco-innovation. Using water innovation as a case the paper uses results from arecent Delphi survey carried out in Europe and China to investigate the innovation balance of these two regions.While European and Chinese results deviate somewhat, the overall picture of these early findings indicate thatChina is catching up with Europe to a considerable degree in water innovation; this takes place across thedifferent water domains although with some differences. The findings points to the rise of global greeneconomic change and an emerging new division of labour in eco-innovation where China is becoming animportant player.

Keywords:

Green economy , eco-innovation , water innovation , green catching-up , Europe , China , economic development , evolutionary economics