The green industry's potential to drive local innovation in the manufacturing sector : Malta a case study for a smart specialisation strategy in eco-innovation

Abstract

The challenge of climate change, security of supply and the culmination of three fundamental world crises (Financial, Energy and Environmental) have led to a major shift in government policies worldwide. Combine this with ageing infrastructure assets in the developed world with the rise of energy hungry new economies and the stage is set for the Green Industry and the search eco-friendly innovative solutions in meeting today's and tomorrow's electrical and power demands. This dissertation explores the trends and drivers which are stimulating the growth of green industry and how this impacts on local innovation, particularly in the manufacturing sector in small countries. Smart specialisation approaches currently being promoted in the Europe 2020 Strategy's Innovation Union Flagship Initiative, provide small member states with the opportunity to focus their innovation investments in niche areas of comparative advantage and national priority. The Strategy also assigns central priority to the grand challenge of climate change and emphasizes the need for smart, green and inclusive growth. Furthermore, innovation, the creation and adoption of new, cleaner technologies and know-how has shown to provide a means to achieve economic growth together with environmental goals at significantly lower costs. The literature review portrays the growth of the green industry, whilst explains how countries and regions choose their smart specialisation strategy, by also referring to academic studies on how regions direct their economy towards the selected niche area of smart specialisation. The main research questions are 'What is the potential of smart specialisation in green industry manufacturing in the context of a small country like Malta?' and 'What are the particular challenges and advantages of such an approach?'