Abstract

Many hopes are currently pinned on innovations. On the one hand, the Federal Government is counting on being able to create the conditions for economic growth and increasing employment through an innovation offensive in Germany. On the other hand, innovations also play a central role within the framework of the strategy for sustainable development presented by the Federal Government in 2002. They are seen as a condition for our production and consumption patterns to develop in the direction of sustainability. However, what is completely neglected in the innovation offensive and also very much relegated to the background in the context of the sustainability strategy: innovations also entail ecological risks. This issue of the Yearbook Ecological Economics therefore examines the question of whether innovations can actually fulfil the hopes placed in them for sustainable development? Do they even represent a royal road to sustainability? In addition, some contributions examine whether innovations can be precisely promoted and implemented through political control. Following the main topic, two further contributions present the basics of a general theory of stocks and the results of a survey among economists on competing paradigms of sustainability. Contents Editorial Klaus Renning's Innovations from the Perspective of Neoclassical Environmental Economics Fred Luk's Innovations, Growth and Sustainability. An ecological-economic view Frank Beckenbach and Jan Nill Ecological innovations from the perspective of evolutionary economics Ulrich Witt Innovation promotion as the royal road to sustainability? A commentary Jan Nill, Christian Sartorius and Stefan Zundel Preparing, opening and using time windows. Strategies for an Ecological Innovation Policy René Kemp and Derk Loorbach Dutch Policies to Manage the Transition to Sustainable Energy Klaus Jacob and Martin Jänicke Environmental Policy Integration and Environmental Innovation Jan-Peter Voß, Bernhard Truffer, Kornelia Konrad Sustainability Foresight for Supply Systems. A Co-Evolutionary Approach to the Analysis, Assessment and Design of Sustainable Development Arnim von Gleich, Andreas Ahrens, Angelika Braun, Kerstin Heitmann, Lothar Lißner Direction of Innovation and Precautionary Principle Niko Paech Sustainable Innovations: On the design of ambivalent processes of change Malte Faber, Karin Frank, Bernd Klauer, Reiner Manstetten, Johannes Schiller, Christian Wissel Foundations of a general theory of stocks Lydia Schwarze, Reimund Schwarze Is there a camp formation in sustainability economics? Results of a survey in Germany.

Authors

Illge, Lydia; Schwarze, Reimund