Linking energy efficiency and innovation practices: Empirical evidence from the foundry sector |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Politecnico di Milano, Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy;2. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Industrial Economics and Management, Lindstedsvägen 30, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden;1. School of Economics and Finance, Xi''an Jiaotong University, Xi''an, Shaanxi, PR China;2. Department of Accounting and Finance, Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST), Islamabad, Pakistan;3. Department of International Trade and Finance, School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China;1. College of Mathematics & Computer Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, PR China;2. Collaborative Innovation Center for Energy Economics and Energy Policy, China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, Xiamen University, Fujian 361005, PR China;1. Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden;2. VITO NV, Boeretang 200, 2400, Mol, Belgium;3. Socio-economic Research Center, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, 1-6-1 Otemachi Chiyoda-ku, 100-8126, Tokyo, Japan;4. Politecnico di Milano, Dept. Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133, Milan, Italy;5. IAT (Instituto Andaluz de Tecnología), Marie Curie, 4. local D2, 29590, Málaga, Spain |
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| Abstract: | The Europe 2020 strategy currently promotes energy efficiency and innovation through disconnected targets focusing on either energy or R&D. Similar policies indicate that in practice, these two concepts are usually perceived as mutually exclusive. Furthermore, evidence in the literature regarding the relationship between R&D and energy efficiency is still highly limited. This exploratory study aims to address this gap by investigating the link between innovation practices and energy efficiency through a multiple case study of 30 foundries in Northern Italy. We analysed the firms' innovativeness, measured by internal R&D and Open Innovation practices (inbound and outbound), and energy efficiency, measured by specific energy consumption, level of adoption of energy-efficient technologies and barriers to energy efficiency. The results seem to show that those foundries complementing internal R&D with inbound practices have a higher level of energy efficiency, a higher level of adoption of available technologies, and a lower perception of barriers to efficiency improvements. This finding suggests that diversifying innovation practices could lead to better performance with respect to all three indicators of energy efficiency analysed. This study contributes to understanding how more innovative firms can be more energy efficient, providing interesting highlights for managers and policymakers. |
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| Keywords: | Energy efficiency Innovation practices Foundry sector |
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