The rapid growth of population, urbanization and climate change is causing serious threat to the future of human societies and the ecosystem. Technological innovation is the function through which new technologies are introduced into the society. In this line of progressive research, the special issue contains 26 articles selected from the “Biotechnological Research and Innovation for Sustainable Development” (BioSD-2018) conference that was held during November 22–25, 2018, at the CSIR-Indian Institute for Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, and the “Bio-Innovation for Environmental and Health Sustainable Developments” (BEHSD-2018) held from November 27–28, 2018, at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow. These two conferences were conducted in association with The Biotech Research Society, India (BRSI) and the International Bioprocessing Association – An International Forum on Industrial Bioprocesses (IBA-IFIBiop). These conferences focused the advancement of research and innovations on interdisciplinary topics in the domains of health, environment, food, water and energy which have been highly pertinent to realize sustainable development goals. The conference also aimed to address the current challenges in creating a sustainable and affordable ecosystem in the framework of cutting edge R&D interventions. A total of ~ 1000 participants attended both the conferences from all over the world.

The special issue covers the various advancement of research and innovations in the field of environmental biotechnology, particularly for resource recovery of waste and the treatment of liquid and solid wastes. These fields are highly pertinent to realize the sustainable development goals. The guest editors of this special issue are thankful to the Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Science and Pollution Research (ESPR), Professor Philippe Garrigues, for providing an opportunity to publish selected peer-reviewed papers that were presented at BioSD-2018 and BEHSD-2018. Our special thanks to Ms. Fanny Creusot and Ms. Florence Delavaud, Editorial Assistants of ESPR, and the entire production team at Springer for their valuable support in bringing out this issue successfully. We also thank all the reviewers for providing critical reviews, comments and feedback on manuscripts that were submitted for this thematic special issue. We firmly believe that you will enjoy reading the manuscripts presented in this special issue and also share the issue with your research colleagues.