The abundance of natural resources has historically developed the economy of Laos PDR. From
agricultural raw materials export-based economy, the country has started to diversify through the
adoption of Economic Mechanism in 1986 which spurred industry and service sectors. To further
alleviate poverty and to sustain the economic growth, the Seventh National Socio-Economic
Development Plan (NSEDP) 2011-2015 has been implemented with six of the seven development
goals related to Sustainable Consumption and Production. As Lao PDR invests in more productive
and dynamic sectors, it is faced with environmental and resource challenges.
A project implemented in Laos from April 2010 to December 2013, the Sustainable Product
Innovation (SPIN) project supports innovation capacity of the country to manufacture and design
products that incorporates socio-economic and environment criteria throughout the product lifecycle.
Funded by the European Union (EU) SWITCH Asia Programme, the project has worked with number
of companies in Laos and (i) has developed hundreds of sustainable products and prototypes of these,
(ii) trainings and consultations have been conducted to promote and develop innovative and
sustainable product development capacity, and (iii) locally applicable toolkits for implementation of
sustainable product innovation has been introduced (SWITCH-Asia, 2008). The concept of
sustainable products puts forwards the need to incorporate a lifecycle perspective when developing
and assessing product development processes and techniques in order to lessen the environmental
burden of such product while allowing for its benefits to be enjoyed by consumers.