ABSTRACT
Yet the challenge of sustainable development will not be solved in slow motion. While we need innovation in product and services design from the side of business, we also need innovation in policy-making to tackle the sticky challenge of getting the market to yield serious rewards for innovative behaviour. We need innovation in social and political debates to create transition scenarios where change does not create losers and social stress. On the contrary, these scenarios should act as incentives for companies, regions and states that invest in knowledge, skills and technologies to create eco-efficient products and services. In the poorest regions of the world the challenge of eco-efficiency is rendered even graver by the challenge to jump-start economic development and functioning governance. This requires significant breakthroughs in the affordability of eco-efficient solutions. Consumers with USD2 a day or on microcredit are an opportunity for innovators who can think about new pricing schemes and cost structures.
