The project offered a conceptual clarification of eco-innovation (developing atypology) based on an understanding of innovation dynamics, and identify and discuss the main methodological challenges in developing indicators and statistics on ecoinnovation and how these may be overcome. Some important challenges for eco-innovation measurement to be investigated are

1. The ongoing nature (changing characteristics) of an eco-innovation
2. The novelty and importance of an innovation
3. Possibilities for combining different innovation measures (input indicators and output indicators, direct and indirect measures)
4. The aggregation of eco-innovation into meaningful categories
5. The links between different types of innovation, for instance the link between organisational innovation and technological innovation
6. The competitiveness of eco-innovation of different type

We proposed possible indicators for measuring relevant aspects of eco-innovation, took into account data availability issues, and define future research needed to address these methodological challenges in developing eco-innovation indicators and set upguidance for the most feasible route for implementation of eco-innovation indicators on the time scale envisaged. The project was done by eco-innovation experts with people from statistical bureaus from two communities: the environmental accounting community and the innovation community, including Eurostat and the European EnvironmentAgency (EEA).

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