Green technology and eco‐innovation

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe seven case studies of university‐industry cooperative partnerships at Nizhny Novgorod Architecture and Civil Engineering State University in Russia. It examines the relationship between green technology and innovation in order to explore how green technologies are developed into successful eco‐innovations following the liberalisation policy which started in the 1990s in the Russian research and development (R&D) sector. Design/methodology/approach – The research adopts a case‐study approach and conducts cross‐case comparative analyses in order to develop insights into the evolution of green technology projects in what was formerly a closed area (Gorky city) prior to the market reforms. Findings – The technical empirical data included in the cases illustrate how eco‐innovations can arise incrementally from highly structured technical problem spaces, in contradiction with previously published literature which has tended to treat them as more creative and radical innovations arising from the design process. The paper proposes an emergent tentative taxonomy of eco‐innovations based on the findings of cross‐case analysis. Finally, the paper suggests a need to develop the aptitude of the various actors involved in such projects in order to successfully bring them to market. Research limitations/implications – While the findings are not necessarily generalisable to other regions, they suggest that the Russian context may require a more sophisticated, multi‐level analysis of the organisation and management of international manufacturing technology collaborations. Originality/value – The paper presents seven original case studies of green R&D and describes an emergent taxonomy of eco‐innovations.