The relationship between eco-innovation practices and sustainable development: The case of South Korea and Turkey

With the increase of global interaction, there is a diversification in the demands and needs of people. Trying to meet the increasing demands and needs causes the intensity on production factors. With the increase in production, there are negative effects on natural resources and environment. It is understood that standard economic patterns are not sufficient in eliminating the negativities that occur at the end of this cycling process. The sustainable development model, which has an economic, social and environmental dimension in recent years, has been applied by countries. New ideas, policies and practices are needed for the solution of environmental problems and the continuity of sustainable development. In line with this need, the importance of the concept of eco-innovation is increasing. Eco-innovation helps to achieve sustainable development goals by minimizing the damage to the environment as a result of new ideas, practices and policies. Within the scope of this study, the relationship between sustainable development and eco-innovation is evaluated and explained through South Korea and Turkey. The eco-innovation indicators and sustainability performance between the two countries are compared. As a result of the comparison, it is seen that South Korea's eco-innovation performance within the scope of sustainable development objective is better than Turkey. However, there are areas for improvement in both countries.