Sustainable innovation: key conclusions from Sustainable Innovation Conferences 2003–2006 organised by The Centre for Sustainable Design

The following is taken directly from the introduction. This booklet summarises the key conclusions from the 2003–2006 conferences on Sustainable Innovation organised by The Centre for Sustainable Design (www.cfsd.org.uk). The conclusions are drawn from the respective conference presentations, papers and discussions. The publication has been sponsored as part of a ‘Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Innovation & Design’ project awarded to The Centre for Sustainable Design by the South-East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

BUSINESS INCUBATORS AND SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

Innovative businesses are often the result of collective action of organisations involved in many-sided market structures, which can be found in and around business incubators or tech¬no¬logy centres. Within such frame environments, many group interests beyond those of single producers and their immediate clients exist and interfere. Rather generically, important economic outcomes of innovations are se¬quen¬ces of cost reduc¬¬tion events at the level of econo¬mic sectors, where the na¬ture of (sector-wise) technology is influencing the pace of these events. At the conceptual le¬vel, we describe the social learning and social innovation process which leads to sustainable in¬no¬¬va¬tion by means of the influence exerted by firms on each other within constrained envi¬ronments such as business incubators. These environments need not to be organized according to any sector logic. We propose that the influ¬ence exerted between firms is increasing in firm simila¬rity, in the degree of product com¬plementarity, and also to depend on (mutual) trust relations. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nWe note that, very much in symmetry with the role of sustainability in society as a whole, in the world of firms and markets, the incubation process may be viewed as a "moderator," which attempts to overcome the disadvantages of highly paced, short-term oriented capitalist economies. In sections 2 and 3 a concept for representing the societal forces shaping sustainability and incubation for the innovating firm is described and ways of transforming the concept into concrete tools of assessment and valuation are pointed at. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\r\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\nInnovation, Incubators, Learning, Networks, Sustainability

Driving Sustainable Innovation: A Pioneer for the 21st Century

An interesting look into one of the premier automobile manufacturers and the design team behind its emergence as a force – not only in the development of new and more efficient vehicles – but in the application of these eco-centered guidelines to other consumer products as well. Verena Kloos provides a rare insight into the role of not just a female officer in an industry largely dominated by men, but of a leader committed to embracing change where demanded

Exploring the effect of R&D support, green technology transfer, sustainable innovation

This article investigates the impact of R&D support on sustainable innovation through the mediating role of green technology transfer. Based on our analysis of data from 220 firms in Vietnam, we find the following: (1) R&D support has a positive impact on green technology transfer, (2) green technology transfer mediates the relationship between R&D support and sustainable innovation, and (3) The influence of green technology transfer on sustainable innovation is heightened in the presence of a firm's commitment to environmental ethics. These findings underline the critical role of government R&D funding in shaping sustainable innovation in emerging markets. The findings further show the crucial role of environmental commitment as a moderating factor in green technology transfer contexts. Managing the interaction between green technology transfer and a firm's commitment to environmental ethics is essential to optimize the benefits of sustainable innovation. This study offers practical insights for firms seeking to improve their sustainable innovation outcomes

When Stakeholder Pressure drives the Circular Economy: Measuring the Mediating Role of Innovation Capabilities

Sustainability is hinged on innovation. The importance of sustainable innovation management in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) cannot be underestimated. Studies on SSCM have emphasised the need for sustainable innovation in achieving sustainability but none provide deep insights into sustainable innovation management in SSCM implementation. This lack of research depth stimulates this study to identify and investigate criteria for sustainable supply chain management innovation advancement. This paper proposes a sustainable innovation criteria framework for investigating sustainable supply chains in manufacturing companies. To exemplify the applicability and efficiency of the proposed framework, a sample of five Indian manufacturing companies are used to evaluate and prioritise the sustainable innovation management criteria, using the ‘best–worst’ multi-criteria decision-making (BW-MCDM) model. The criteria weights for all companies from BWM are aggregated, averaged and used for ranking. The respondent managers viewed ‘financial availability for innovation’ as the most important sustainable innovation sub-criteria. The results of the study will inform industrial managers, practitioners and decision-makers on which criteria to focus on during the implementation stage, to increase sustainability in manufacturing supply chains, and further advance corporate and supply chain sustainable development. The framework may also serve as a theoretical construct for a future empirical study on sustainable supply chain innovation in the manufacturing sector. This paper sets the stage for further research in sustainable innovation practices in the manufacturing sector and its supply chains

From Green IT to Sustainable Innovation

Sustainable innovation is about creating social, environmental, and economic value for all stakeholders involved. In this paper we propose the sustainable innovation lens as an extension of the prevailing discourses on Green IT/IS. The sustainable innovation lens goes beyond the environmental facet of sustainability—which is the main focus of Green IT/IS—and offers a three-fold approach that encompasses social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability. Moreover, sustainable innovation provides a potent proactive approach to IT/IS development and management by focusing on creating positive solutions to environmental and social challenges rather than on reducing and managing IT footprint. Building on a longitudinal study of Hewlett-Packard, we demonstrate how a company can widen its perspective from Green IT to sustainable innovation, and then illustrate how the latter has a greater potential for change and innovation

Construction Innovation: The Implementation of Lean Construction towards Sustainable Innovation

The prevalent theory of construction has been seen as a hindrance to construction innovation. The concept of lean construction is concerned with the application of lean thinking to the construction industry. However, in lean construction there are many arguments supporting the view that ‘the prevalent theory of production (or specifically, theory of construction) is counterproductive, and leads to added costs and reduced overall performance through the deficient production control principles based on the theory’. Presently, the construction industry and all other organisations face various problems as a result of the uncertainties of the global economic climate; including labour redundancies, delayed projects and zero margin contract bids. The construction industry is seen as one of the worst performing industry as regards innovation. This calls for concern about the poor state of construction innovation. The emergence of lean construction is to bring significant reform to the construction industry to achieve the objectives of sustainability within the built environment in the critical social, economic and environmental aspects. Increasingly, lean construction offers new techniques of constructing sustainable projects. It is about reducing costs by cutting waste, innovating by engaging people and organising the work-place to be more efficient. Hence, the aim of this paper is to highlight the cost and benefits of the potential contribution of lean construction to the attainment of sustainable innovation in construction. An exploratory method of investigation is adopted in achieving the aim of this paper by critically reviewing, exploring, and synthesising literature and industry case studies related to the subject matter. Evidence from the literature reveals that innovation through lean improvement in construction processes has provided proof of sustainability outcomes in terms of reduced waste, effort and time. Hence, lean construction impacts significantly on innovation by enhancing competitiveness, innovativeness, and resource efficiency within the construction industry. Keywords: Construction industry, Construction innovation, Lean construction, Sustainabilit

Sustainable Innovation at REI

Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) was founded in the 1930’s as a co-op for climbers to acquire quality gear. As a major (US) retailer of outdoor equipment and gear, REI has been a leader in sustainability with everything from their products and packaging design, retail building efficiency and contributions to environmental conservation and outdoor recreation. This mini-case offers students an opportunity to explore the “Catalyzing Experiences” section of REI’s new sustainability integration initiative. Looking at the new sharing economy and innovative business models will challenge students to develop creative solutions to the consumption-based economic model of traditional retailers

A Measurement Scale to Evaluate Sustainable Innovation Performance in Manufacturing Organizations

AbstractSustainable innovation in manufacturing involves developing of new products, processes, services and technologies that enable economic development and well-being of stakeholders and institutions while respecting the worlds’ natural resources and regenerative capacity. Defining and measuring even conventional innovation in manufacturing organizations, let alone sustainable innovation, is difficult. This study will present an initial effort at developing a scale for measuring sustainable innovation. For this, first, literature is thoroughly reviewed to identify sustainable innovation measurement related studies. The measurement model is developed from literature and is based on evaluation of decision points. The measurement scale is obtained by evaluating each item for their relevance considering a number of criteria. This study presents the first known scale to measure sustainable innovation performance and can be used by manufacturing companies to evaluate sustainable product or process innovativeness

The Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation to Low Cost Strategy, Differentiation Strategy, Sustainable Innovation and Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (Studies at Batik Small and Medium Enterprises in East Java Province, Indonesia)

This study aims to examine, analyze and explain the Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation to Low Cost Strategy, Differentiation Strategies, Sustainable Innovation and Performance of Batik Small and Medium Enterprises in East Java Province, Indonesia.This research is explanatory research and sampling was done by using multi- stage area sampling,which is done through three stages, first, the determination of purposive sampling area, with a population of 2685 business units. Second, the sample set that batik Small Medium Enterprises owners are determined based on Slovin formula by 190 people. Third, calculate the proportion of samples in the four study areas with proportional random sampling. Data collection done through questionnaires which distributed through enumerators services, email and sent through the post. in addition, the researchers also conducted interviews with respondents directly. Furthermore, the data collected were processed using analysis of variance -based SEM with PLS software .The findings of this study is the first, entrepreneurial orientation significantly influence low cost strategy and differentiation strategy, but the effect is not significant to the sustainable innovation Second, low cost strategies significantly influence the sustainable innovation. Third, differentiation strategy significantly influence to the sustainable innovation. Fourth , sustainable innovation significantly influence the performance of Small Medium Enterprises . Dominant variable that affecting the sustainable innovation is differentiation strategy , thus it can be said that in implementing sustainable innovation and improve the performance of Small Medium Enterprises , especially in batik industry is more suitable with differentiation strategy , because batik is an Indonesian cultural heritage artworks that highlight characteristic area of ​​origin . However, for batik industry, batik Small Medium Enterprises  can implement a hybrid strategy which is  differentiation strategy and low cost strategies.Contribution of this study to scientific development is enriched theory of strategic management in based resources perspective, market-based and knowledge-based. Sustainable innovation is part of the evolution to be executed by the company's organization. Innovation come from creativity which is a collection of good ideas of knowledge, and experience that are in the human mind and then mixed into useful innovations on an ongoing basis. But innovation also identify customer needs of the present, and the future as well as develop new solutions to customer needs. in order to make the sustainable innovation more complete, it is recommended for further researcher, to add a field of study related to market-based and knowledge-based view. Keywords: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Low Cost Strategy, Differentiation Strategies, Sustainable Innovation, Performance Batik Small and Medium Enterprise