Sustainable Product Innovation Policy for SMEs

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the LLP Environmental Management Centre in cooperation with the Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) and the Vietnam Cleaner Production Centre organised a policy advice conference on sustainable product innovation in Hanoi.

 

The meeting aimed to build up awareness among country-level and government-level officials of the benefits of developing and bringing national sustainable products to domestic and international markets; and the necessity of policies and strategies to promote this as well as green growth. At the same time, the conference connected standpoints of stakeholders with loophole analyses - the basis for determining structures and deployment tools needed for development and promotion of domestic sustainable products and shaping of legal frameworks aimed to encourage the application of sustainable products to industries in all three participating countries (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).

 

The event was part of the Sustainable Product Innovation (SPIN) Project funded by the European Union and deployed from October 2012 through December 2013 in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia with 500 companies engaged, of which 340 companies were from Vietnam, mainly involved in food, packaging, garment, leather - footwear, furniture and handicraft industries. So far, 110 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam have been allowed to implement 689 new product designs. The goal of this project was to demonstrate and connect economic, social and environmental benefits, mainstreamed with ecological innovations in SMEs and national policies.