Scientific and business environment literature shows that green, sustainable innovation or eco-innovation has proven to be a source of competitive advantage today. The industrial clusters, their dynamism, and the synergies created within them attract a lot of attention from the scientific community. However, to date, the joint study of these two concepts and, more specifically, the factors that drive eco-innovation specifically in a cluster, have not been studied in depth. This article models eco-innovation in industrial clusters, thus addressing this gap and proposing a model based on information gathered from the literature and a detailed analysis of behavior in relation to eco-innovation in different sectors. Results suggest that including eco-innovation variables and measures may have positive implications such as improvements at the strategic level and the reduction of costs and use of resources. An eco-innovation model for clusters is proposed. It considers eight key factors that seek to raise its competitive level by promoting eco-innovation within clusters. The model includes five internal factors that analyze business capabilities and three external factors that study the effect of launching eco-innovative activities. This model could help the companies’ managers and those responsible for clusters in creating more successful strategies to increase competitiveness by enhancing eco-innovation. It could also serve as a guide for government entities in the performance of eco-innovative activities in economic sectors.
Water purification is indispensable to guarantee safe human consumption and to prevent diseases caused by the ingestion of contaminated water. This requires a series of water treatment processes which require investment. However, the economic limitations of rural communities hinder their ability to implement such water-treatment systems, as is the case in Ci enaga Grande of Santa Marta ("Large Swamp", in English) in Colombia. Low-cost systems can be used instead as simple and safe alternatives. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate non-conventional, low-cost water processes to purify the water from the collection point of two stilt house villages in Ci enaga Grande of Santa Marta. These include: 1) Using two natural coagulants, Moringa Oleifera and Cassia Fistula; 2) filtration through a biosand filter and a carbon activated filter; and 3) disinfection through UV-C Radiation and through solar disinfection. The results showed a turbidity values reduction between 52% and 96% using the two natural coagulants; both turbidity and total coliforms achieved reductions of 98.4% and 76.9%, respectively in the filtration process; and removal of total coliforms up to 98.8% in the disinfection process. Despite the high rates of reduction in the different parameters, the water does not comply with the recommended limits for safe drinking water.
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