Lead Markets for Environmental Innovations: A New Role for the Nation State

Abstract

The article discusses the role of the nation state in stimulating lead markets for green innovations. It is often feared that the nation state loses its capacity for action because of economic and political globalization. This article rejects this hypothesis. It argues that empirical research on actual environmental policies reveals that it is most often nation states that pioneer new approaches, push for advances in environmental policy, and serve as regional starting points for new 'green' technologies. The innovation and diffusion of environmental technologies and their support through national environmental policies bear the potential of a far-reaching ecological modernization. Copyright (c) 2004 Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

India - A Lead Market for Frugal Innovations? Extending the Lead Market Theory to Emerging Economies

“…This point of view has been and continues to be supported by other lead market scholars , Cleff, et al, 2009, Jänicke and Jacob, 2004. Jänicke and Jacob (2004), for example, assert that it is consumers with high per-capita income in "highly developed countries" who create an "environmental pressure" to innovate. They also argue that only high income countries can afford the necessary R&D investments for development of new technologies.…”

“…Many scholars in the realm of the lead market theory have connected sophistication with high levels of income, education and concerted efforts of information seeking on part of the prospective customers (Beise-Zee and Rammer, 2006, Dreher et al, 2005, Jänicke and Jacob, 2004. Even Christensen and Raynor (2003) have characterized typical targets of disruptive innovations as "less demanding cutomers".…”

“…Beise, 2001, Beise, 2004, Jänicke and Jacob, 2004. The explicit assumptions regarding the characteristics and supposed benefits of lead markets contribute to the present understanding which implies that a) lead markets almost by default exist in highly industrialized and economically developed nations only for only they can pay for latest technologies and finance the development effort (Beise, 2004, Ghoshal and, and b) the presence of highly sophisticated (technology savvy) customers is an important prerequisite for the lead market potential owing to its positive effect in inducing innovative activity and signaling quality to consumers elsewhere (Beise, 2004, Jänicke and Jacob, 2004, Porter, 1990a.…”

Adapting ecological modernisation to the Australian context

“…EM is a label that has been attached to a broad school of thought that originally emerged from Europe (and Germany in particular) during the 1980s, most notably from the work of Martin Janicke and Joseph Huber, although some of its component ideas can be traced back as far as the late 1960s (Hajer 1995;Weale 1998;Mol and Sonnenfeld 2000;Mol and Spaargaren 2000;Huber 2000;Grant and Papadakis 2004;Janicke and Jacob 2004;Janicke 2008). Janicke (2008, p. 557) argues that EM was adopted by what he refers to as the 'Berlin School of environmental policy research' in the early 1980s.…”

“…The core argument of EM is that although democracy, the state and the market have gone astray, they can be restructured to make them sustainable (Christoff 1996;Mol and Spaargaren 2000;Dryzek 2005;Howes 2005). EM argues that economic growth can be decoupled from raw material throughput, energy use and waste generation through the application of new technology and the redesign of institutions (Berger et al 2001;Janicke and Jacob 2004;Dryzek 2005;Howes 2005;Huber 2008;Janicke 2008).…”