Abstract
Technology innovation plays a central role in decoupling economic growth from resource consumption and environmental degradation. Since technological lock-in is one of the main barriers to the promotion and dissemination of technology innovation towards sustainability, it is necessary to design policies that can both trigger the innovation and competitiveness of an economy. This paper analyzes the evolution of environmental policies in Japan and their effects on technology innovation using the dioxin problem and the recycling of wastes as case study. The paper discusses the importance of such policies for improving the technology-push demand-pull relationship. The paper shows that thanks to the effectiveness of these policies the government overcame the dioxin problem and promoted the spread of alternative technologies for waste recycling. Finally the paper stresses that policies must go beyond the end-of-life approach and tackle the origin of the problem, that is, unsustainable production and consumption patterns.
