Henar Alcalde Heras (p), Francisco Carrillo-Carrillo

This paper explores the relationship between business innovation cooperation modes and eco-innovation (EI). We analyse the effectiveness of the different innovation modes, based on STI (Science and Technology-based Innovation) and DUI (Innovation based on learning-by-Doing, by-Using, and by-Interacting) cooperation practices, in generating firm-level EIs leading to environmental benefits within the firm and during use or consumption by the end user. The empirical analysis uses a propensity score weighting method based on data from 968 Basque firms during the period 2018-2020. Our findings indicate that the STI cooperation has greater impact (than DUI) on product EI leading to environmental benefits inside the firm. Also, DUI cooperation is likely to have greater impact (than STI) on product EI leading to environmental benefits obtained during use or consumption by the end user. Finally, DUI cooperation shows greater impact (than STI) on process EI. Results shed light on the recent body of literature that has examined the relationship between EI and collaboration through the lens of the modes of innovation and emphasise the importance for theory and practice of distinguishing among collaboration partners, contingent on the underlying typology of EI. We discuss important implications for theory and practice.

Ana Cid-Bouzo, Adrián Ríos-Blanco (p), Francisco-Jesús Ferreiro-Seoane

Henar Alcalde Heras

The objective of this article is to compare companies that are considered great workplaces with those that are not, using a sample of 100 companies for each group during the period 2013-2021. This criterion is based on the ranking of the 100 best companies to work for in Spain published by the Revista de Actualidad Económica (RAE). Therefore, it is a comparison between companies within the RAE ranking and outside it.

First, it is analyzed whether the valuation obtained in the ranking increases with the permanence of the companies within it. In addition, the social characteristics are compared, in order to study whether the most attractive companies to work for are more socially sustainable than those not included in the ranking. Throughout this research, we will focus on the analysis of different variables such as talent management, remuneration, the work environment, CSR and training.

The analysis methodology will be based on descriptive, exploratory and inferential statistics, as well as information will be captured from the annual accounts of the SABI program of the companies under study that allow analyzing social sustainability. All this will be supported by a systematic review of the literature.

Cecilia Camporeale (p), Pasquale Regina, Sandro Sanna, Elena Girola

The assessment of the emission impacts of public interventions has assumed an increasing role in the debate on EU Cohesion Policies. The need to estimate, analyse and monitor the carbon impact of funding has prompted the search for suitable tools.
In response to this need, in 2011, the European commission - DG REGIO published a call for tender to help European regions to populate the Common Indicator 34, an indicator introduced to measure GHG emissions related to the Cohesion Policy. ENEA was part of the consortium that developed the model CO2MPARE to face this challenge and to this day continues to update it both in data and in its architecture to make it operational in the programming cycles that have followed since then.
The CO2MPARE model is an important piece of the support toolkit in the programming, monitoring and evaluation of EU funds, as it enables the estimation of the impact in terms of additional/avoided/reduced CO2 emissions of national and regional OPs financed with EU funds.
In the framework of the ES-PA - Energy and Sustainability for Public Administration project, financed by the national OP “Governance e Capacità Istituzionale” 2014-2020, dedicated to the improvement of multi-level governance and the administrative and technical capacity of public administrations in public investment programmes, ENEA together with the Sardinia Region, supported by Poliedra-PoliMI, have explored the possibility of elaborating annual emission estimates linked to the eligible costs financed.
The flexibility provided by the CO2MPARE model made it possible to build a model architecture capable of reproducing the architecture used in the Sardinia Region's own ERDF ROP, based on seven axes and related investment priorities.
Normally, the application of the CO2MPARE model is made with reference to the entire operational programme analysed, because the purpose of the model is to estimate the GHG emissions related to the investments made through the OP.
In the present work, on the other hand, an attempt was made to historicise the data to consider the different timing of the start-up and implementation of the works, thanks to the monitoring data uploaded into the Regional Monitoring and Control Information System (SMEC) broken down by year.
The exercise aims to give an estimate of the emissions over time linked to the costs admitted year by year, thus monitoring the performance of the ROP, which required a historical reconstruction of the results.

Lin Jin (p), Yilei Wang

The landscape is a synthesis of the cultural and natural processes of a place, which can be designed and maintained to be ecologically resilient and thus to be able to both improve and regenerate the natural benefits and services of ecosystems. As such, how to develop and manage our landscape will play a significant role in the health and welfare of humans in the future. The Sustainable Sites Initiative was an interdisciplinary group effort that developed a rating system that identifies and advances best practices for landscape architecture. SITES v2 Rating System was produced through a multi-year iterative process. It is presented as a systematic, comprehensive set of guidelines to incentives sustainable landscape practices by using an ecosystem services framework. Opportunities for continuing research on how SITES v2 encourages the creation of a landscape sustainability system and drive more sustainable land development to become apparent as it expands in application, scope, and impact. In this study, taking the SITES gold-certified project Navy Pier in Chicago as a case study, the authors aim to illustrate the practice and potential of SITES v2 for sustainable design of a landscape. The results show as an important tool for transformation from theory to the implementation of ecosystem services, SITES v2 is being used to guide design decisions toward sustainable outcomes. It also can promote the entire project accountable to a higher standard of best practices and result in a more sustainable site. In the context of practices of contemporary landscape architecture, SITES v2 may lead to the transformation in sustainable landscape design. Our study can promote the ongoing application of SITES v2 and the creation of a better sustainable landscape through design. It holds the potential to highlight how the methodology on which SITES has been created, can be linked with future cities development and urban landscape management.

Hugo Pinto (p)

Henar Alcalde Heras

Digitalization is today an omnipresent process. The digital is expanding into many sectors, from smart applications, healthcare, banking, and urban mobility to the sharing economy. Digitalization - the use of digital technologies to transform social, economic and cultural systems - is a crucial process for the transformation of society in the following decades and will shape not only informational processes but many other aspects that will define the possibilities for a sustainable transition. Digitalization is not only about technology. It is about leading to new social practices.

Skills and access to infrastructure are fundamental for digital transformation. The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the need to break the digital divide, as remote work and delivery of public services through the internet gained relevance. Developing and implementing digital technologies can be a way to instigate solutions for several types of unanswered social needs. Digitalization processes that impact society are often a result of a social innovation process. Without proper social innovation, the mere implementation of a digital technology may lack the acceptance of its potential users.

This communication is inspired by the second phase of the Atlantic Social Lab, an INTERREG project that combines the knowledge of higher education institutions and local governance bodies to develop social innovations for digital transformation. It will briefly present critical issues about digital transformation and social innovation, the project's objectives, ongoing pilot actions and policy implications.