Bożydar Ziółkowski

Product, Process, and Organizational Innovations in Water Management

Abstract One of the underlying reasons for unsustainable and ineffective water resource management in many countries around the world has been missing knowledge about water innovations. This chapter presents three types of water management innovations: product, process, and organizational innovations, which have been successfully applied in Europe for the past decade. Product innovations refer to new products introduced to the market or in an organization. Process innovations describe new or significantly improved production processes or delivery methods, while organizational innovations are defined as changes in organizational principles, strategies, and culture of a commercial, public, or nonprofit institution. The presented innovations, if applied appropriately, could be helpful with a more efficient and effective design of water-related policies and strategies in Europe and around the globe. This applies especially to long-term policy planning at the regional and national levels, and in the areas with a high water demand resulting from a growing population and extreme weather events.

Foresight regionalny w projektowaniu polityki rozwoju

Regional foresight in creation of development policy Foresight is an instrument of strategic planning proved in enterprises and in public policy. The aim of this paper is presentation of the foresight role as well as related to it experiences during creation of regional development policy with a special attention laid to key success factor

Eco-innovations in Europe ? state and development prospects

Little research has been done on the subject of eco-innovations in the European countries till date. The reason is the missing information about this term and little practical experience in the production or in the service sectors. This paper presents the main streams in the development process of eco-innovations in the European Union (EU) countries and the practical importance of environment-friendly innovations for enterprises and societies. The analyses of available data prove a growing importance of eco-innovations in the competition process between enterprises on markets and the improving development possibilities for this sector in the future. This optimistic vision is also striven by the European Community which supports eco-innovative solutions through different European Funds. Thus the development of eco-innovations creates a new practical research field.