An Empirical Perspective on the Relationship Between Innovation Performance and Sustainable Development

Abstract

In 2015, almost all member states of the United Nations adopted seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide specific objectives and timelines to promote inclusive prosperity. Innovation is crucial for achieving sustainable development. Innovation itself is one of the SDGs (Goal 9) and also a means for achieving the others.It is aimed to reveal the multidimensional relationship of innovation with the pillars of sustainable development in this study. The dataset of the study consists of 35 OECD member countries and statistics of these countries between 2007-2019 years. Global innovation scores of countries were used for innovation. Human Development Index was used for the social dimension, CO 2 emission values were used for the environmental dimension and GDP per capita was used for the economic dimension. The balanced panel was resolved through Eviews and STATA software packages programs.According to the results of the analysis, innovation has a positive and significant relationship with the social and economic pillars of sustainable development. It also has a significant but negative relationship with CO 2 emission, which negative relationship is a positive situation for the environment. Therefore, the main result of the study is innovation has a positive effect on sustainable development. According to the causality test results, it was determined that there are both short and long-run relationships between the three dimensions of innovation and sustainable development.

R&D - An Innovation Catalyst for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

“…Economic pillar focuses primarily on healthy economies that can provide a high quality of life for people, but usually it also involves identifying alternative economic paths that could provide a safer future without compromising the natural systems. Environmental sustainability involves defining an existing boundary to meet people's current needs without sacrificing the ecosystem's quality (Yi̇Ği̇T, 2021).…”

“…According to UNDP 2020, empowering people and promoting stewardship should become central to what it means to live a good life alongside easing planetary pressures. It is largely accepted among researchers and stakeholders that innovation is a key driving force for sustainable development, which is why the implementation of the SDGs shall be made through an integrated global innovation system that connects regions, joins production alongside with relevant information and technology (Yi̇Ği̇T, 2021).…”

The Innovation-Based Human Development Index Using PROMETHEE II: The Context of G8 Countries

“…Having said that, although widely accepted, the HDI methodology as an index was critiqued by some scholars and hence, opening the way for new proposals that aim to better assess countries' efforts toward sustainable development [2]. Going through the 4th industrial revolution, it is evident that innovation is key to countries' economic prosperity and sustainable development [3][4][5]. Indeed, the relationship between innovation, human development, and GDP is particularly strong [6].…”

“…Indeed, the relationship between innovation, human development, and GDP is particularly strong [6]. Therefore, countries are working tirelessly to build and enable their workforce to have the right skill sets to engage and initiate innovative practices/projects, as well as setting national strategies for innovation activities [5]. Additionally, the investment practices/projects, as well as setting national strategies for innovation activities [5].…”

“…Therefore, countries are working tirelessly to build and enable their workforce to have the right skill sets to engage and initiate innovative practices/projects, as well as setting national strategies for innovation activities [5]. Additionally, the investment practices/projects, as well as setting national strategies for innovation activities [5]. Additionally, the investment in education and science has a more significant impact on countries' ecological situation, which guides and influences public policy [7].…”