Innovation aimed at saving the environment constitutes one main area, whereas the other area may be termed as the issue of socially acceptable innovation. In addition there are obviously cases where these two areas are integrated to a larger or lesser degree. The network was in the first period of activity predominantly focussed on the first area of issues, i.e. issues in connection with innovation aimed at saving the environment, whereas the second area of focus, i.e. socially acceptable innovation, has become a stronger part of the focus area during the second year. Therefore, environmental policies and pro-active strategies are critical to social and technological innovation aiming at sustainability. A distinction between explicit and implicit policies appears to be needed due to assess the huge discrepancies which seem to exist.
Many policies are today explicitly embedding or directly aimed at environmental improvements.
But the policies of e.g. a country is also constituted by its implicit policy regarding the environment within all other domains of policy making. There are thus three broad categories of public policies regarding sustainability. The first category is composed of the explicit environmental policies. The second category is made of the implicit environmental policies, so all other domains of public policy may come into consideration. The third and intermediary category is composed of particular cases, often belonging to traditional policy making, which have a critical impact on environmental performances, like the energy sector, the building industry and the urban development, or the transportation sector.