Scientific abstract:

Abstract Eco-industrial parks (EIPs) strive to promote sustainable industrial development by integrating environmental, economic, and social objectives. Despite the limited success of many national EIP programs, China, Japan and Korea have reported significant achievements in this field. This paper aims to characterize the three countries’ national EIP projects to draw specific focus and implementation strategies. This study consists of two interrelated parts: 1) bibliometric analysis; and 2) the characterization of EIP development through a literature content analysis. The combination of ScienceDirect (Scopus), Web of Science (WoS), and Dimensions publication databases from 1998 until 2022 were used in this study. The bibliometric analysis was done by refining only the most-related literature based on the typical keywords and content, then visualized by using the VosViewer software for the keyword co-occurrence analysis. It was performed to analyze the EIPs research trend from 1998 to 2022. Based on the keyword co-occurrence analysis, the most popular keywords for EIP research in China are “industrial symbiosis” and “network”. Meanwhile, “waste” is the most popular keyword in Japan Eco-town’s publication; and “eco-industrial park” and “industrial symbiosis” are the most popular keywords for Korean EIP scientific publications. Based on further analysis, the focus of EIPs in China is resource efficiency and industrial upgrading through industrial symbiosis and networking. Korean model EIPs have a strong focus on innovation and technology in EIP transition, with a particular emphasis on industrial symbiosis development by business model based on triple bottom-line benefits. EIPs in Japan, or Eco-town projects, are characterized by a focus on waste recycling and the reuse of resources, as well as the development of sustainable infrastructure. Overall, the characterization of EIPs in China, Korea, and Japan is similar in selection and approval of EIP and business approaches, but they may differ in terms of their specific focus, priorities, and funding mechanisms.