SD Vision - Halyps Cement

6
We need to
construct cities
which are overall
energy- and
eco-positive,
with effects
like increased
biodiversity.
to these investments. And as productive social
actors, those fi rms have also contributed very
substantially to our national research capacity
through taxation redirected to our public sector
research system and its transfer of knowledge to
the private sector. Yet at the same time, many
French fi rms are in sectors which are increasingly
competitive on national and international
levels, and those fi rms which fail to invest in
eco-innovation R&D will soon fi nd themselves
falling behind. Much more in-house investment
is needed and fi rms need to be more creative
about fi nding ways to partner with and invest in
public sector R&D capacity. Here at the Versailles
Saint Quentin University we have developed our
International Chair in Generating Eco-Innovation
to do just that, creatively creating a bridge
between industrial partners of the Chair and
the Chair’s actions taken to educate eco-innovators
and to involve university-sector researchers
in applied research projects. Those projects are
important to the eco-innovation capacity of
partner fi rms and France as a whole to the extent
that some projects respond to industry needs
and others push industry to think creatively
about how to change their offer to become
more environmentally sustainable and profi table
in economic and social terms. This is just one
leading model: fi rms in particular sectors need
to experiment with models most appropriate to
them, to use investment in knowledge-creation
to create economic opportunities which meet
and perhaps exceed sustainability goals and
standards. What is most important to stress
is that this must happen quickly. The world is
changing faster than ever before and we cannot
afford to be caught sleeping while very capable
competitors press ahead without us. We need to
work and invest with a sense of urgency for the
sake of our environmental quality and our international
competitiveness.
In which areas do you think that eco-innovation
should be particularly focused?
Just as there is no single, magic «right action» to
create a sustainable way of life, there is no single
eco-innovation priority which can be pursued
independent of other priorities. For example,
sustainable energy is of course critical to the
operation of our economy and our society, yet
sustainable use of water and treatment of wastes
are also critical. The contexts in which energy,
water and other resources are used are no less
important: we are now a predominantly urban
society, living in cities whose transport, building
and communication systems can all be improved
to function better while demanding less from our
environment. And, of course, eco-innovations
in each one of these areas must be effectively
integrated – isolated innovations whose good
effects are outweighed by problems elsewhere
do not, in the end, leave us much ahead.