Determinants of Environmental Innovations: New Evidence at the sector Level

摘要

This study carried out an empirical analysis of environmental innovations based on firm-level data from the Technological Innovation Panel (i.e. PITEC) 2014 database created by the Spanish Institute of Statistics. The main goal was to explore the determinants of eco-innovation in the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. The methodology applied revealed that, although most of the proposed model's determinants are significant for all sectors, the determinants' effects are specific to each sector. Improvements of products and processes, organisational innovations, research and development, and public financial support for innovation activities are the main drivers for eco-innovation in all sectors. However, these determinants' effects significantly vary across sectors. This study's main conclusion is that international competition is quite important for eco-innovation and economic aid programmes are essential to the implementation of eco-innovation measures.