This year the Eco-Innovation Observatory has looked at how eco-innovation can lead to and create pervasive change. It argues that if eco-innovation is based on partnerships of different stakeholders working together, it can play a crucial role in the transition to a green and competitive economy. 

Eco-innovation can take the form of improved products and processes, new technologies and services, and new ways of doing things, but key to the transition is the combination of cleaner technologies, new business models and sustainable behaviours. System eco-innovation -- a series of connected changes rather than stand alone innovations -- will play a much bigger role in the future. It will require developing a shared understanding of how and why systems work the way they do, and new collaborations to create functional systems that integrate environmental sustainability at their core. A system in focus can be anything from a house to a city or an entire economy.

This report especially focuses on how different stakeholders can contribute to building a green economy through eco-innovation. It defines a green economy as an economic system which prospers within the boundaries of sustainable resource extraction and use. It argues that a long-term vision needs to be co-developed in society, and that the establishment of concrete targets for resource use are needed as an orientation for both policy-makers and people engaged in eco-innovation. Using the green economy as the framework for change, strategic partnerships between policy makers, businesses, citizens and researchers can apply eco-innovation to create enjoyable alternatives to business-as-usual pathways.