Abstract. Growing interest worldwide to boost innovation in business sector activities, especially the technology, is intended to maintain or increase national economic competitiveness, inclusively as an effect of awareness concerning the effects resulting from economic activity on consumption of resources and environment, which requires design of new patterns of production and consumption. In this paper we review the most important contributions in the literature in terms of the implications of technological innovation in the economy, at the microand macroeconomic level, viewing the organization's ability to generate new ideas in support of increasing production, employment and environmental protection, starting from the concepts of innovation, innovation process and, respectively, from the innovation typology analysis.

Keywords: technological innovation; innovation process; ecoinnovation; research and development; economic development.