The impact of legal norms on stimulating innovative activity in the field of sustainable development

This study examines the role of legal norms in fostering innovation for sustainable development (SD). The focus of this study is on a comparative emphasis on the European Union (EU) and Ukraine. It analyzes how regulatory designs enable or constrain eco-innovation and evaluates the potential of Ukraine to harmonize its framework with EU standards in the context of post-2022 reconstruction and EU accession. The main sources of the research are the EU green deal and regulation (EU) 2021/2085, and the laws of the country regarding innovation and sustainable energy in Ukraine. The secondary data is borrowed through organizations such as OECD, UNDP, and the World Bank, and also the European Patent Office. The outcome reveals that there is a great variation between the two regions under investigation. More than 70 percent of the difference in innovation performance (measured by patent applications, research and development expenditure, global innovation index rankings, and so on) can be associated with the cohesive and enforceable legal system of the EU, which is supported by programs such as Horizon Europe, whereas Ukraine is only 43%. In the study, bureaucratic inefficiencies and corruption have been noted to be the biggest impediments to the implementation of eco-innovation in Ukraine. The results of this research confirm that the Porter hypothesis applies to the EU, where strong environmental regulation can help to increase innovation; however, they also indicate the weakness of this theory in a transitional economy, where the enforcement capacity is low. Nevertheless, the latest events in Ukraine can promise new perspectives on green reconstruction and eco innovation. The policy suggestions include the fact that Ukraine should modernize the law, incorporate the sustainable development goals, and employ EU-style investment facilitation schemes. These actions might assist in the empowerment of the innovation ecosystem in Ukraine and fast-track its integration with the EU, finally leading to the SD agenda.