A short summary of this paper. Download Download PDF. Translate PDF. Why make toothpicks from bamboo? Toothpicks are low-value products and the additional value imparted by processing into toothpicks is less than for many other products, such as woven items or flooring boards.
The relatively cheap bamboo wood is therefore ideal. How are toothpicks produced? Bamboos are split 2. There is an association between variables. The results of the chi-squared test have shown that there is a relationship between the size of the enterprise and the groups involved and responsible for implementing the innovation.
After conducting the chi-squared test, which pointed to the existence of relationships, it is worth asking the question about the strength of these relationships. The answer for the strength of dependence can be obtained by calculating the V-Cramer contingency coefficient. The coefficient was 0. Depending on the size of the company, different groups are responsible for the process of initiating and creating innovation.
In order to learn the directions of the innovation strategy of enterprises, research questions were formulated and empirical research observations and deep interviews was carried out, which allowed verification of research questions and make a generalization. Qualitative research is characterized by a method, in which a priori image of reality is not assumed, but research questions are formulated and then generalizations are formulated on the basis of empirical research. Qualitative research is used to generalize the understanding of occurring phenomena.
Qualitative research is not presented in numbers in quantities but concerns the characteristics of the phenomena studied. They focus on identifying facts, and most often answer questions why, what, how much, how strongly, how often, and in what part. Then, qualitative research was to show the motives for implementing innovation on the use of bamboo on an industrial scale.
Research on the use of bamboo in various branches of the economy has shown wide possibilities of using bamboo resulting from its advantages. Bamboo due to its physicochemical properties can be used in the construction, textile, food, and energy industries.
Primary research on issues of innovative bamboo applications was carried out as the interviews with the heads of companies using bamboo as their basic material.
Interviews took place in January—February Interviews were conducted by an Internet survey according to the script, and the questions posted in the questionnaire are presented below:. Did you start to use bamboo from the beginning of your business or you added bamboo gradually, step by step? The results of qualitative research conducted on a group of companies from various sectors of the economy energy, water equipment, automotive, and textile have been analyzed by the author.
The answers provided allowed for drawing general conclusions regarding innovation based on the use of bamboo. The responses collected from the companies showed that bamboo is a material with huge potential that affects the innovation of the company. The conclusions and recommendations made in the mentioned study showed the need to continue research towards innovative and eco-innovative solutions. Enterprises should also pay attention to the impact on the environment and look for innovative solutions that reduce the negative impact, which can be described as eco-efficiency.
Eco-efficiency and production costs are therefore important for the management of the enterprise and obtained energy efficiency and unit consumption indicators can be used to define environmental standards. Eco-efficiency is closely related to efficiency consisting in achieving high environmental results in reducing the consumption of natural resources, reducing the emission of substances polluting the environment, and reducing the mass of generated waste Prasad et al.
These tools help companies identify opportunities to improve resource efficiency and reduce environmental impact. Due to the increasing consumption of materials, social pressure on environmental issues, stricter regulations, and a higher level of competition, companies will have to take environmental considerations into account in their strategic planning and gradually switch to a circular economy.
Eco-efficiency means moreover increasing process efficiencies and reducing environmental impact, for example by reducing the material intensity of goods and services, by reducing the energy intensity of goods and services, by reducing toxic emissions, by maximizing the use of renewable resources, and enhancing the material recyclability.
CE as a significant and important issue was considered in recent years by many researchers. Elia indicated that CE can be a kind of path to increase the sustainability of the economic system. An important role will play reuse, repair, and recycle and become crucial activities in many sectors, whereas Korhonen noticed that CE attracts both the business community and the community of decision-makers to work for sustainable development.
Roos Lindgreen, Salomone, and Reyes mentioned that enterprises have implemented CE strategies to reduce their resource use and its associated impacts in order to boost economic competitiveness and generate positive social impact.
Enterprises operate in changing conditions and various elements influence the undertaking of innovative activities to varying degrees. For energy companies, one of the most important elements of the macro environment is the ecological environment, which brings with it many tight requirements for the broadly understood environment.
Enterprises very often are looking for eco-friendly, proactive environmental strategies, which bring the eco-efficiency Magarey et al. Due to the requirements of the ecological environment, energy companies should move towards reducing pollution, lowering emissions, and reducing negative impacts on the environment. The problems of climate change, in addition to constantly rising energy costs and depleting fossil fuel resources, make it necessary to look for new, ecological, widely available and efficient methods of energy production.
Renewable energy using wind, the sun, water and biomass resources is leading in this respect. Therefore, companies should look for alternative raw materials and energy materials for coal.
One of such solutions may be the use of renewable biomass from bamboo instead of wood biomass used so far. Bamboo biomass is characterized by rapid growth and increase of wood mass as well as slight interference in the environment. Bamboo is a sustainable and environmentally superior material Ogawa et al. Bamboo can be potential as bioenergetic material. Bamboo has good fiber quality and has many important fuel properties, including bioenergy substances such as low ash content and alkaline index.
The main components of ash arising from the combustion of bamboo are potassium dioxide K 2 O and silica SiO 2. To assess bamboo quality as a biofuel, knowledge of chlorine Cl and sulfur S content is also needed. A large amount of these elements causes corrosion and contamination of boilers, pipes, supply lines, and an increase in SOx, Cl 2 , and HCl emissions.
The ash content is from 1. As bamboo quality and growth improves through systematic shearing, bamboo can be harvested every three years without damaging the environment.
For example, if we compare the average life expectancy of a redwood, which is about years, with a bamboo plant, we can see that bamboo can be harvested and reborn over times at the same time. The energy produced from bamboo biomass has great potential and can become an alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Bamboo biomass comes from stems, branches, and leaves.
Bamboo biomass can be transformed in many different ways biochemical or thermal conversion to produce different energy products synthesis gas and biofuels or charcoal that can become a substitute for existing fossil fuels. It should be noted, however, that the use of bamboo biomass alone is not able to meet global energy demand. Bamboo biomass is characterized by a relatively higher calorific value than other biomass, which means that it is a good material for direct combustion e.
Many different projects on the use of energy from bamboo operate, operate and are implemented worldwide.
In African countries, bamboo biomass is very popular and most often used to replace firewood or the production of charcoal for home use. An innovative solution in the energy sector is a power plant entirely fired with bamboo mass. In Japan, a large-scale biomass power plant construction project using bamboo alone is underway. This type of power plant is the first in the world. A comprehensive power plant system is being developed, ranging from cutting, crushing, and burning bamboo to generating electricity.
The power plant overcame problems caused by minerals contained in bamboo during combustion, including reduced energy production efficiency and boiler problems. Energy market companies adapt to market requirements and environmental requirements by implement innovative solutions. Companies that have partially or fully switched to energy production from bamboo have become environmentally friendly, and they have adopted a strategy of eco-technological innovation. The innovative company that introduced product innovations regarding bamboo structures in surfboards is a well-known company of Gary Young.
The company was looking for new solutions that would be more environmentally friendly. For a surfboard company to become eco-innovative and move into a circular economy, it should stop using raw materials based on nasty chemicals, fumes, waste, non-recyclable, and insufficiently durable.
The company should use materials that are durable, ecological, and reusable. The company began looking for natural materials that can replace the artificial fibers used so far. Bamboo turned out to be such a material. Thanks to its mechanical properties, bamboo can replace glass fibers, which are relatively expensive. Bamboo has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any natural fiber.
Due to those properties such as durability and repairability of bamboo surfboard, we can conclude that those factors are important aspects of a green board. The longer a board can be surfed and repaired, without losing performance, the more eco-friendly it is. According to Gary Young, bamboo can be a cheap and ecological replacement for carbon fiber. Bamboo absorbs very well the strength of strong impacts. The production process is cheap and environmentally friendly.
Therefore, the eco surfboard technology, based on bamboo construction, became an innovative solution. Innovation in the automotive industry signifies various products and process development, developed new perspectives, and useful concepts Holtskog, In recent years, innovations related to zero-emission cars, i. Automotive companies increasingly use bamboo as part of the car interior or as parts of usable parts, e.
In addition, Lexus is moving towards new technologies based on renewable sources to replace, where possible, plastic and fiberglass parts and components with bamboo elements, e. This is due to the fact that new technical solutions have been implemented to improve the comfort of using the car with the use of environmentally friendly materials. Hazardous substances from textile production affect direct the health of both textile workers and wearers of clothes, and they escape into the environment.
Some clothes, during the washing process, release plastic microfibers, of which around half a million tons every year contribute to ocean pollution, and then, living organisms are contaminated Borowski, ; Ellen MacArthur Foundation, In a new textile economy, in which replacement of petrochemical-based synthetic fibers was realized, to organic plants bamboo , an eco-innovative solution took place.
Based on the principles of a circular economy CE , clothes, textiles, and fibers produced from bamboo are kept at their highest value during use and re-enter the economy afterwards, never-ending up as waste. With a specific emphasis on innovation towards a technological and product innovation, a new textile economy presents an opportunity to deliver substantially better economic, societal, and environmental outcomes Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A textile company that produces bamboo fiber socks.
Bamboo and cotton are very good materials. They are breathable, allow the skin to breathe, but bamboo is superior to cotton in that much less chemicals are used when growing bamboo because bamboo is more resistant to pests and parasites, has antibacterial properties, so its use is more beneficial for the environment. In addition, bamboo socks do not compress the ankles, perfectly keep heat, and are very durable.
Moreover, bamboo socks offer moisture-wicking properties and superior comfort. In the production of socks, their impact on thromboembolism disease is important. Many socks can have negative effects on blood circulation Zadow et al. The company has achieved a higher level of quality through the use of bamboo fibers.
The company began to create luxury products that met the expectations of the most demanding customers. The bamboo yarn has natural antibacterial properties, thanks to which bamboo towels are perfect for contact with sensitive skin and in an environment exposed to the formation of bacteria.
Very good hygroscopic properties of the raw material ensure excellent absorbency and short drying time of the products. Thanks to the unique technology products have the highest absorbency and softness. Raw materials developed in laboratories, appropriate air humidity, perfectly selected thermal treatments and an extended process of finishing the product provide towels production with excellent performance parameters.
The company also has created a bamboo-line collection, which includes fabrics, towels, bedding, shirts, and even nappies for children and babies.
Both companies mentioned above have applied product innovations and technological innovations. Moreover, thanks to the application of environment-friendly solutions, these innovations can be classified as eco-innovations, which can also create an element of the circular economy. The results of the conducted research can be shared into two main groups, which interpenetrate and complement each other.
The first group of the results shows that the innovation strategy is a drive for the creative functioning of enterprises. The second group of results shows the implementation of innovation strategies, mainly technological and product-related, in enterprises belonging to various sectors of the economy.
Thanks to the use of bamboo as an ecological material; it is possible to implement eco-innovations and join the closed-loop economy. Innovations allow enterprises to maintain a proper competitive position on the market and in many sectors of the economy the innovative use of bamboo gives a competitive advantage and also positively affects the environment.
The use of bamboo is a significant and important fact in the current climate change situation. The wide use of bamboo will allow companies to develop further with a positive impact on the surrounding environment and switch on from unsustainable development to one of sustainable development by using eco-efficiency. The limitations of the research refer to the conducted surveys, which in the future would be worth carrying out on a larger research sample.
The group of companies participating in future research should represent most sectors of the economy. It would also be worth analyzing how the COVID pandemic influenced the development of innovation, which sectors developed faster and which developed slower. Bartelsman, E. Productivity, technological innovations and broadband connectivity: Firm-level evidence for ten European countries. Eurasian Business Review , 9 , 25— Article Google Scholar. Baumann, J. Research Policy , 45 6 , — Bazeley, P.
Mixed methods in management research: Implications for the field. Bereznoy, A. Changing competitive landscape through business model innovation: The new imperative for corporate market strategy. Journal of the Knowledge Economy , 10 , — Borowski, P. Development strategies for electric utilities. Acta Energetica , 4 , 16— Environmental pollution as a threats to the ecology and development in Guinea Conakry.
Environmental Protection and Natural Resources , 28 , 27— Adaptation strategy on regulated markets of power companies in Poland. Bossle, M. The drivers for adoption of eco-innovation. Journal of Cleaner Production , , — Darroch, J. Examining the link between knowledge management practices and types of innovation. In a study by Silva et al. Tensile, bending, and torsional test simulations were done using a 3D bamboo.
These values are used as the material input for this section. A non-uniform orthotropic material with linear elastic properties having three equally thick 3 mm each layers was used. Figure 6. The simulation showed that maximum stress was induced at the mid-section line of the specimen under tension as shown in Fig. The maximum Von-Mises strain in Fig.
The maximum Von-Mises stresses and maximum shear stress XY plane are found to be concentrated at the open ends of the culm that are in contact with the equipment.
The Von-Mises strain, although small, seemed to be spread out through the entire culm as presented in Fig. For the bending test simulation, symmetry was utilised for better accuracy and simplicity of model as shown in Fig.
The simulation results, as given in Figs. The maximum Von-Mises values from the simulation for tensile, compression, and bending testing is presented in Table 6. To achieve multi-functionality, most biological systems like bamboo culms are made up of composite materials that are complex, non-uniform, and capable of adaptability primarily due to the presence of living organisms Silva et al.
Miyamoto et al. Biological systems and struc- tures, such as tooth, shell, bone, and bamboo, are functionally graded. The distribution of the micro-constituent of such materials must be characteristically spatially-varying and non-uniform within all building blocks of the composite. Hence a continuous interchange of composite constituents matrix and reinforcement is observed.
Several studies Nogata and Takahashi ; Amada et al. Bamboo is a highly optimised FGM that ensures its thriving in varying geographic and envi- ronmental conditions. The deformation may be a result of the nature of loading the culm is being subjected to. Using the rule-of-mixtures, the tensile strength of pure bamboo MPa was found to be comparable to steel — MPa Nogata and Takahashi During bending, the compressive side generated higher voltage signals compared to the tension side.
It was concluded that, possibly, the voltage signals were an adaptive mechanism used to determine growth processes in a stress-induced environment. The functional graduations can be seen in the different sizes of the bundles. A comparison of the vascular bundle shape a b Outer layer Vascular bundle Inner layyer hloem metaph Fibre bundlle metaxylem Fig. The experimental work on the microstructure of the vascular bundle conformed to the analyses found in the literature.
Forest Prod J.
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