TRANSFORMATION TOWARDS CIRCULAR ECONOMY IN COMPARISON WITH ECO-INNOVATION DEVELOPMENT ON THE EXAMPLE OF EU MEMBER STATES

The discussion presented in this paper refers to a broadly understood subject of a circular economy and related issues of eco-innovation, with a particular focus on the two-way relationship between the two. Based on data on EU member states' activities in this area, the aim of this paper is to assess the impact of a circular economy on eco-innovation development. First, the idea of sustainable development from the perspective of a circular economy was presented along with the changes in its perception. Furthermore, the role of the European Commission was highlighted with respect to the legislation of that area for EU member states. A literature review was initiated by the European Commission's forecasts concerning unsustainable production and consumption. In the same section, the definitions of a circular economy and eco-innovation were provided, and a close relationship between these two aspects often highlighted in scientific publications was indicated. Logit models were developed to verify the impact of a circular economy on eco-innovation development. For that purpose, the GRETL econometric package was used. Circular economy indicators and eco-innovation indicators available at the Eurostat and European Commission websites were used as diagnostic variables in the models. In two cases, the logit models indicated a significant relationship between the areas in question, which was also presented as a linear regression function. At the final stage, conclusions were presented, which included research limitations and future research directions.