Sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI), which displays an intention to develop a product or service that contributes to economic, environmental, and social sustainability, has drawn growing institutional and academic attention, due to the general consideration that innovation is an essential part of achieving sustainability. For developments of this nature, it is considered that foreign direct investment (FDI) helps companies to meet the requirements demanded by SOI, however, they show different cooperation patterns, and so it is not known what path they must take to achieve it. In this context, this paper uses comparative analysis to try to shed light on the possible differences in the paths taken to achieve SOI by companies with and without FDI, taking into account their different form of knowledge management. To achieve this objective, it has been necessary to build new sustainability indicators (economic, environmental, and social) that allow the evaluation of the sustainability of these processes, considering the sustainability objectives that guided companies towards innovation. Using a logit model for 5897 Spanish companies during the period 2009–2014, this paper contributes both theoretically and empirically to emerging research into the opening of sustainable innovation. It provides a better understanding of the different channels for accessing knowledge for SOI, and examining these channels through absorptive capacity and cooperation, according to its age and size.

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Companies can contribute to sustainable development in a dynamic and globalized market, such as today’s, through Sustainability-Oriented Innovation (SOI). However, to do this implies meeting specific requirements and dealing with greater complexity because of the higher level of sophistication of cooperation networks for this kind of innovation. In this context, to meet the requirements demanded by SOI, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is considered fundamental. However, it is not known whether their capacity to focus more on heterogeneous knowledge sources, which, thanks to their cooperation networks, are broad and geographically diverse, would have a differential impact on SOIs. Through comparative analysis, this paper attempts to shed light on the possible network differences for companies, with and without FDI, looking to undertake SOI. It focuses on the knowledge framework and geographical scope stemming from cooperation for successfully undertaking sustainable developments. To this end, three networks had to be set up, which include diversity, scope, experience, and frequency of national, European, and global cooperation. The results lend strength to the theory that SOI is favored by European and global cooperation networks if companies have FDI, and by national networks if there is no foreign participation. For this, the role of absorptive capacity is key, understood as a joint analysis of R&D intensity and the skills and education of employees tasked with innovation, and the implementation of new organizational methods. Lastly, it is confirmed that having FDI allows companies to have qualified employees, and better methods and organizational practices in connection with an openness to innovation.

Achieving sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources stands out as one of the goals included in the Goals for Sustainable Development in the 2030 Agenda. The construction sector is currently far from presenting an efficient model in terms of treating waste generated by it. Variations in the physical and chemical properties of recycled aggregates coming from construction and demolition waste are one of the main reasons of their limited use in the production of construction materials. This research presents a physicochemical characterization of three different types of recycled aggregates coming from different types of waste: concrete, ceramic and mixed. Physical characterization shows that recycled concrete aggregate has better physical properties compared with mixed recycled aggregate and ceramic recycled aggregate, which makes it more suitable for use in masonry mortars and concrete, due to its higher dry density (2210.33 kg/m3), its lower content of fines (5.17%), its lower friability coefficient (24.60%), and its water absorption coefficient (6.70%). Chemical characterization shows that none of the tested recycled aggregates contains traces of harmful chemical agents that exceed the limits established by the reference regulations. Finally, the statistical analysis shows good homogeneity for these raw materials, obtaining low coefficients of variation and values within the recommended in each of the calculated confidence intervals.