Sustainable Innovation Process Research Articles

Circular and Sustainable Multi Business Model Innovation and Development:

The circular economy is used as a concept to advance and push the green and sustainability transition process in businesses to a more circular, green, resource effective economy. However, it has turned out to be much more complex to innovate, develop, implement, operate and not least measure Circular and Sustainable business models for businesses – especially for SME’s and Startups – although the approach – by many – is emphasized as “easy” strategies and implementation. Achieving Circularity and Sustainability (environmentally, economically and socially parameters) – at the same time – related to business models has not yet been clearly defined, shown, proven and measured. Achieving environmental, economic and social goals – equal to sustainability – at the same time – the ”triple bottom line” approach – in a circular perspective is a great dilemma to many businesses because the parameters often conflict each other. Advanced sensor technologies, 5G and 6g technologies gives great hope to be able to make it more visual and transparent to what businesses are really doing and strategically want to do. Advanced technology could help to visualize the process and the dilemma – in close to real time. Advanced sensor, 5G, 6G technologies imbedded in Business Model’s (BM) and Circular Sustainable Multi Business Model Innovation and Development processes gives hopes for a new leadership and management era together with better measurement tools, practice, and approaches. It also gives hope to a higher speed on circular and sustainable transition – visualizing and thereby hopefully preventing greenwashing. The EU project Greenbizz II A and B’s vision is to speed up the Circular and Sustainable Multi Business Model Innovation and Development (CSMBMID) process in SME’s and Startups together with their business value network. The aim is to achieve and implement Scope 3 – but under the goal to also create at the same time effectiveness, efficiency and sociality in CSMBMID. By reengineering AS IS BM’s – and designing Circular and Sustainable Business Models (CSBM) – the vision of Greenbizz II A and B are however very complex by nature. It requires a manifold of activities, different network constellations and not least further research, innovation and development of sensors, 5G and 6G technologies, learning and traning and a CSMBMID Brain. Greenbizz II A and B build on top of EU Greenbizz 1 project, as Green, Economic and Social parameters are seeked measured and achieved together with circularity at the same time in a new “Circular Sustainable Triple Bottom Line” measurement framework. A new advanced monitoring smartboard using advanced sensors and wireless technologies prototyped in SMEs/Startups – and their business value networks – will be prototyped and tried to be implemented from 2024 – 2026 in 96 SME and Startup businesses. The paper discuss through 3 case examples in different Business Model ecosystems contexts, challenges to do CSMBMID and how advance sensor, 5G and 6G technologies is expected to help and support circular sustainable BM transition in businesses. It points to how CSBM’s can be innovated, developed and implemented supported by advance sensor, artificial intelligence, deep learning, persuasive technologies, Multi Business Model Innovation pattern analysis and libraries of BM archetypes.

Practices of Knowledge Exchange in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

AbstractThis paper contributes to a better understanding of a system of pandemic knowledge exchanges. Therefore, three different case studies conducted in Germany, Greece, and Turkiye and executed in multiple countries were analyzed in the context of Mode 3 knowledge production and the Quintuple Helix system. While the Quintuple Helix system describes the knowledge exchange processes between the systems of science, economy, politics, public, and natural environment of societies for sustainable innovation processes, Mode 3 emphasizes the importance of a creative environment for research and innovation. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the need for knowledge exchange with the media-based public increased dramatically. In both models, Mode 3 and the Quintuple Helix but also in the Design Thinking approach, the creative environment incorporates the knowledge of the media-based public. Nonetheless, the reality of the public is constructed as media reality. Therefore, a mix of evidence-based and opinion-based knowledge is produced and transferred during knowledge exchange in the context of innovation processes including public engagement. It could be understood that the mediating entities media and general practitioners have a similar double function in the context of knowledge exchange with the public during the pandemic times. The results reveal the big need for knowledge communication and exchange platforms which on the one hand strengthen citizen participation by transforming opinion-based into evidence-based content. On the other hand, reach the status of a global standard medium for the pandemic knowledge exchange accepted by all stakeholders of the Quintuple Helix. This generates a shared-knowledge environment with a gain for all systems of the Quintuple Helix during the sustainable innovation processes.

Usage of AI in Sustainable Knowledge Management and Innovation Processes; Data Analytics in the Electricity Sector

Successful organisations prioritise product quality and customer satisfaction. Non-financial indicators are crucial for measuring performance, requiring specific financial and technology management knowledge. Effective knowledge management and entrepreneurial activity significantly impact performance, vital to the country’s economic factors. Electricity is crucial to society’s development. Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass can generate sustainable electricity. Managing environmental, social, and economic aspects is essential for sustainable societal and virtual development. In this study, the central element of novelty is associated with the dependent variable Nominal Labour Productivity per Employee. This research shows that effective knowledge management impacts a company’s business performance. Based on secondary data from various sources, we have used factor analysis to assess the interrelationship between the factors and econometric dimensionalities. Accompanied by this econometric approach, the research methodology aims to present hybrid models based on econometric techniques and artificial intelligence (AI) networks. Based on the principal component method analysis results, we show the interdependence of 30 variables in the micro and macro environment. The new components of the correlated variables show how knowledge and innovation are related to the economic performance of society, and nominal employee productivity is a valuable indicator for measuring economic efficiency. Nevertheless, AI, a knowledge management product, provides helpful comments on the econometric results.

The influence of sustainability and digitalisation on business model innovation: The case of a multi-sided platform for food surplus redistribution

While digital multi-sided platforms have been primarily investigated from a technical or economic perspective, the evolution of their business models over time and the significance of social and environmental sustainability for their success received relatively less attention. Through a longitudinal case study on the evolution of a digital platform for food surplus redistribution, we analyse how the business model of a multi-sided platform evolved to balance and integrate the objectives of economic viability with social and environmental sustainability goals. Data were collected through interviews with the platform stakeholders and then coded following the Gioia methodology. By adopting the lens of sociotechnical theory, we develop a set of four propositions to provide a generalisation of our findings to the broader literature on digital multi-sided platforms. Based on the results, we argue that the sustainable business model innovation process of a digital multi-sided platform must consider the mutual influence between business model innovation, sustainability dimensions internal to the business model, and the leverage of opportunities offered by digital technologies. Eventually, we underline the fundamental role of the platform leader in guiding such evolutionary process and its ability to generate benefits for all stakeholders through both sustainability and digitalisation levers.

Discovering the Sustainable Innovation Service Process of Organizational Environment, Information Sharing and Satisfaction: The Moderating Roles of Pressure

Sustainability issues have been highly impacted during the pandemic period, and issues of sustainability are receiving increasing attention and have been embedded in tourism and hospitality management. To follow customer changes and sustainability requirements, employee behavior is a significant determinant of organizations’ sustainable service innovation. Data were collected from 454 restaurant employees to confirm the proposed hypothesis and investigate the organization of sustainable service innovation processes. The results showed that organizational environments may encourage employees to engage in information sharing and satisfaction to enhance sustainable service innovation through achievement and improvement. Further, this study also asserts that pressure is a critical attribute that moderates the relationship between achievement and improvement for sustainable service innovation. Theoretical and managerial implications are also introduced and discussed.

Sustainable innovation: Additive manufacturing and the emergence of a cyclical take‐make‐transmigrate process at a pioneering industry–university collaboration

AbstractInnovation experts posit that digital technologies—such as additive manufacturing (AM)—can address societal challenges and change the nature of work and collaboration. In recognition, this special issue encourages researchers to investigate how AM can be leveraged to reduce environmental externalities and devote greater attention to the production of 3D printed items. This article integrates academic research on new product development and the cradle‐to‐cradle philosophy with insights gleaned from long‐term case observations across a series of large‐scale AM projects to advance that 3D printing can unleash three pivotal adaptations to the traditional conception‐development‐launch ecosystem. Specifically, our direct participation in designing and building multiple 3D printed products reveals that: (1) spent products can possess valuable ingredient materials that can be repurposed, (2) the reduced structural strength of the reclaimed material can be a positive force insofar as spawning innovation in a new product category, and (3) manufacturing should appear as an independent stage in new product development. On this last point, our completed projects align with recent observations that newer AM technologies can make prototyping and manufacturing products easier, faster, and less expensive. Accordingly, we advance a cyclical sustainable innovation process, which consists of ideation, development, AM output (i.e., manufacturing), and material reclamation. This research is both theoretically meaningful and pragmatically useful. It addresses knowledge gaps regarding AM in the academic literature and spawns new research questions for innovation scholars. For managers, it provides a path to supplant the wasteful take‐make‐dispose production model with the more efficient and effective take‐make‐transmigrate approach that we deem an innovation loop. Specifically, our final built project—a 3D designed and printed chair that uses polymers from the spent chassis of a 3D printed car—serves as a proof of concept that AM can be a catalyst to a paradigmatic shift in how products are made.

Design principles for sustainability assessments in the business model innovation process

Assessing business models’ sustainability impacts has become necessary to help firms transition towards a more sustainable and circular economy. Most firms face multiple challenges in developing sustainable business models. Many of these challenges can be solved by assessing the sustainability impacts of various business model designs. Various sustainability assessment tools and processes have been developed, each fitting different organizational needs in the sustainable business model innovation process. This paper seeks to develop a deeper understanding of this organizational process by analyzing the extant sustainability assessment frameworks and tools for business models and synthesizing the findings into a set of design principles (as meta-artifacts). We draw on a systematic literature review using a qualitative meta-synthesis approach. The proposed design principles can serve as guidelines in helping a company integrate sustainability assessment into its business model innovation process. The paper concludes by presenting a research agenda for future work in this area.

Reward Mechanisms in COVID-19 Tracking Apps and Its Impact on the Voluntary Participation of the Public in Sustainable Innovation Processes

The COVID-19 pandemic is the first pandemic after smartphones penetrated society globally. Consequently, there are not sufficient experiences and understanding of how to engage citizens in information and scientific processes that create public awareness and responsibilities according to scientific needs. For effective measures aiming to sustain the pandemic crisis, an efficient collaboration of academia, economy, culture-based, and media-based public and politics is crucial. With help of the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) approach for assessment, COVID-19 tracking apps (CTAs) of different countries are analysed with help of a qualitative content analysis according to their reward mechanisms. The analysis includes correlation different rewards to voluntary participation. The MARS approach consists of engagement, functionality aesthetics and information quality. The protection of voluntariness is understood as the fundamental need for the ethical use of CTAs. Accordingly, patterns of voluntariness are examined in the context of legal, ethical privacy and security policies of selected CTAs. In this context, this paper will provide categories and criteria for CTA usage and its impact on citizen engagement in the Quintuple Helix collaboration process aiming to get insights into features and functionalities needed in CTAs and increased voluntary use of the public.

Business model innovation for sustainability: a new framework

PurposeSustainable business model innovation (SBMI) is a change in the way a firm operates in order to create positive impacts or to reduce negative consequences for the environment and the society. The aim of this paper is to explain what pathways a firm can take when it implements a sustainable business innovation process in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Design/methodology/approachThe article starts with the analysis of the existing literature about BMI and SBMI in order to extrapolate the main elements of these topics.FindingsThanks to the combined information from academic and nonacademic sources, the study proposes a new framework. It is divided into three sectors: value proposition, value capture delivery and value capture according to the main studies about the business model.Research limitations/implicationsRegarding theoretical implications, this study contributes to developing a theory of both BMI and sustainable innovation. Indeed it helps in the understanding of the dynamic vision about how the business model changes in order to incorporate triple sustainability.Practical implicationsFrom a practical view, the paper can serve as a guideline for corporate reorganization.Originality/valueThe new framework differs from some recent academic efforts first of all for its theoretical characteristics: BMI construct and not business model concept is the core of the framework. The business model represents the subject of innovation, not its vehicle. Another unique aspect that can be derived from the approach adopted is that it links theoretical with practical sources.

Sustainable Entrepreneurship in India: A Comparative Case Study of Social, Economic and Environmental Outcomes

There is an increasing interest in how sustainable entrepreneurship can balance people development, profit generation and planet protection to create better social, economic and environmental outcomes. Firms need to develop sustainable business processes, stakeholder engagement and sustainable innovations to achieve venture success. This comparative case study method uses primary research, literature review and the evaluation of secondary sources to bring more depth to the cases. Primary data are collected through detailed interaction with the Indian founders and the key stakeholders to study the phenomenon of sustainable entrepreneurship. One company designs and produces premium handmade leather footwear using traditional techniques, while the other firm designs and creates fabrics for global fashion houses using artisanal methods. The sustainability practices are contributing to social upliftment and positively impacting the environment as both the ventures were set up with a desire to support India’s artisanal networks. The social, economic and environmental outcomes create the theoretical framework of sustainable entrepreneurship. The sustainable innovation processes implemented by these companies filter out the detrimental effects of innovation to create socially responsible and environmentally friendly products. While sustainability-driven costs are higher for both companies, they are creating value-added products to build long-term profitability and growth. Some sustainability challenges like reduction in carbon footprint through greater efficiency in power consumption and transportation remain to be tackled. This applied research on sustainable best practices adds to the area of entrepreneurship. The cases may guide other entrepreneurs on how they could build and grow sustainable ventures. Policy implications for promoting sustainable entrepreneurship, the governmental role in supporting local artisan networks and the need for greater environmental awareness are discussed.

Towards Enterprise Sustainable Innovation Process: Through Boundary-Spanning Search and Capability Reconfiguration

In the open innovation environment, enterprise sustainable innovation is no longer the result of individual decision-making. Extensive contact with suppliers, customers, scientific research institutions, and other subjects for boundary-spanning knowledge search, absorption, and reconfiguration is considered a critical path to enterprise sustainable innovation. Studying the process of “how boundary-spanning search affects enterprise sustainable innovation” has become an urgent and valuable task. Therefore, based on an innovation search perspective, this study explored the path and mechanism of boundary-spanning search affecting enterprise sustainable innovation, revealed the intermediary effect of capability reconfiguration, and clarified the regulatory role of information technology (IT) governance. We also proposed an integrated model promoting enterprise sustainable innovation process. Using questionnaire data from manufacturing companies in China, this study empirically tested the proposed model hypothesis. The results demonstrated that all boundary-spanning searches (supply-side, demand-side, and cross-regional searches) positively and significantly impacted enterprise sustainable innovation. However, the effects of the search types varied. Capability reconfiguration played a partial intermediary role between boundary-spanning search and enterprise sustainable innovation. IT governance positively moderated the relationship between boundary-spanning search and enterprise capability reconfiguration, particularly between cross-regional search and enterprise capability reconfiguration. This study enriches our understanding of the sustainable innovation process and provides theoretical guidance for enterprises to improve their sustainable innovation performance by effectively using boundary-spanning search strategies.

State regulation of sustainable innovation project funding in the EU countries and Ukraine

The effective implementation of innovations is broadly determined by the ways of their financing, among which project funding is particularly important today. This paper examines the impact of project funding on the innovative growth of the state in the EU countries and Ukraine in the context of sustainable development. Using theoretical and empirical methods, this study identifies and systematizes traditional and innovative forms of sustainable innovation project funding, which are practically used by the EU member states and Ukraine. Based on statistical methods, data analysis for the period from 2014 to 2020 and indicators characterizing the participation of countries in the largest European project funding program Horizon 2020 and other similar programs, the study revealed a close relationship between the conditions created by the state for participation in project funding programs and indicators of innovation activity and the climate of the state. The study allowed determining that funding from international sources, including funds from leading European institutions, which support the dissemination of sustainable innovations, can be a good alternative for innovation project funding under limited domestic resources. The study concluded that diversification of sources and forms of project funding, use and support from the state influences and accelerates the development of innovation infrastructure in a country (clusters, business incubators etc.), as well as the interaction between various participants in a sustainable innovation process (state, regions, large enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses, communities).

Hospital 4.0 roadmap: an agile implementation guideline for hospital manager

Social and economic developments, such as the progressive aging of society or rigorous budgetary policies, combined with the latest unforeseen outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19 have shown the fragility of healthcare systems. Today more than ever, concepts like flexibility, agility and efficiency assume significance also for the design of healthcare systems. To increase agility and robustness of healthcare systems, this paper presents an implementation approach for Hospital 4.0 based on a profound analysis of scientific literature about Industry 4.0 and Hospital 4.0 and aims to provide a practice oriented guideline for hospital manager. The proposed roadmap is based on six phases starting with an assessment and ending with the long-term sustainable innovation and development process of future oriented Hospital 4.0 concepts. The main findings of this research is the transfer of Industry 4.0 guidelines to healthcare, leading to a comprehensive roadmap for the development and implementation of Hospital 4.0 strategies.

Hospital 4.0 Roadmap: An Agile Implementation Guideline for Hospital Manager

Social and economic developments, such as the progressive aging of society or rigorous budgetary policies, combined with the latest unforeseen outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19 have shown the fragility of healthcare systems. Today more than ever, concepts like flexibility, agility and efficiency assume significance also for the design of healthcare systems. To increase agility and robustness of healthcare systems, this paper presents an implementation approach for Hospital 4.0 based on a profound analysis of scientific literature about Industry 4.0 and Hospital 4.0 and aims to provide a practice oriented guideline for hospital manager. The proposed roadmap is based on six phases starting with an assessment and ending with the long-term sustainable innovation and development process of future oriented Hospital 4.0 concepts. The main findings of this research is the transfer of Industry 4.0 guidelines to healthcare, leading to a comprehensive roadmap for the development and implementation of Hospital 4.0 strategies.

YENİLİKLERE İLİŞKİN SÜREÇ İÇİNDE HUKUKİ BİLGİNİN ÖNEMİ

Legal knowledge has great importance in every step of production and management. During the process of sustainable developments, a close relation between innovation process and law has to be considered. Every step of the innovation process and management depends on legal regulations. The engineers, producers, managers should be aware of law, to avoid problems in the future and not to make mistakes in the production and innovation process. To know the regulations help them in various ways. Accordingly, the knowledge about rights and obligations helps them to negotiate safely with the other parties. They know about the boundaries of their liabilities what they are working on. They keep the protection of their work especially on legal regulations. Additionally, during the production phase the protection of environment has to be considered. There are many international agreements which are signed by the States on environment, climate change, sustainability, waste management, renewable energy, etc. Managers and directors in the innovation process need to know about these complex issues. In this paper, the quintuple helix innovation model will be introduced which describes innovation process based on knowledge circulation between academia, industry, politics and the media- and culture based public for sustainable developments. Afterwards, relevant legal aspects of sustainable innovation process will be clarified by giving examples from the practice in national and international level.

Sustainable Collective Innovation in the Agri-Food Value Chain: The Case of the “Aureo” Wheat Supply Chain

This paper contributes to the theoretical debate in agri-food economics on sustainable innovations. Specifically, it aims to define an interpretative model of sustainable innovation processes conceived at the supply chain level, and the determinants promoting these processes. The paper also proposes a best practice of sustainable collective innovation, namely the “Aureo” wheat supply chain. Sustainable collective innovation requires the commitment and involvement of all actors of the agri-food supply chain, while its effectiveness depends on the governance models adopted. The study findings validate the proposed theoretical framework, highlighting several economic, social, and environmental benefits that the process can provide. The results contribute to the debate on the topic, providing useful insights for practitioners and policy-makers.

Sustainable Innovation in Small Medium Enterprises: The Impact of Knowledge Management on Organizational Innovation through a Mediation Analysis by Using SEM Approach

This current study is among the very few investigations, which seeks the relationship between knowledge management and sustainable organizational innovation in garment business firms. This investigation focused on examining how organizational learning mediates the relationship between knowledge management and sustainable organizational innovation. This research establishes that knowledge management and organizational innovation procedures are integral parts of the progress and survival of the organizations. The received data of this population reports on the garment firms, operating their businesses in Lahore and Gujranwala. The study applied a stratified random sampling method for data collection and employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the hypothesized relationships. The results specify that knowledge management shows a significant positive association with organizational learning, which in turn reveals a positive linkage to sustainable organizational innovation in SMEs of the garment industry. The study results also specify that organizational learning mediates the relationship between knowledge management and sustainable organizational innovation. This research survey identifies the significance of knowledge management and organizational learning in executing the process of organizational innovation, and it helps business managers to understand organizational learning as a mediator, which in turn indicates the benefits of knowledge management in achieving sustainable organizational innovation. This review provides an empirical indication of original data to investigate the linkage between knowledge management, sustainable innovation process, and organizational learning culture in the Pakistani garment sector. The generalizability of the study fallouts is restricted to the garment industry, and it offers valuable insights for imminent researchers.

Addressing the design-implementation gap of sustainable business models by prototyping: A tool for planning and executing small-scale pilots

Next to the redesign of industrial products and processes, sustainable business model innovation is a strategic approach to integrate environmental and social concerns into the objectives and operations of organizations. One of the major challenges of this approach is that many promising business model ideas fail to reach the market, which is needed to achieve impact. In the literature, the issue is referred to as a “design-implementation gap.” This paper explores how that critical gap may be bridged. In doing so, we contribute to sustainable business model innovation theory and practice. We contribute to theory by connecting sustainable business model innovation with business experimentation and strategic design, two innovation approaches that leverage prototyping as a way to iteratively implement business ideas early on. Using a design science research methodology, we combine theoretical insights from these three literatures into a tool for setting up small-scale pilots of sustainable business models. We apply, evaluate, and improve our tool through a rigorous process by working with nine startups and one multinational company. As a result, we provide normative theory in terms of the sustainable business model innovation process, explaining that piloting a prototype forces organizations to simultaneously consider the desirability (i.e., what users want), feasibility (i.e., what is technically achievable), viability (i.e., what is financially possible), and sustainability (i.e., what is economically, socially and environmentally acceptable) of a new business model. Doing so early on is functional to bridge the design-implementation gap of sustainable business models. We contribute to practice with the tool itself, which organizations can use to translate sustainable business model ideas defined “on paper” into small-scale pilots as a first implementation step. We encourage future research building on the limitations of this exploratory study by working with a larger sample of companies through longitudinal case studies, to further explain how these pilots can be executed successfully.

Policymakers’ views on sustainable end-user innovation: Implications for sustainable innovation

This paper seeks to ascertain why the role of end-user (consumer) within sustainable innovation remains largely overlooked by policymakers in spite of their significant potential in driving socio-technical transitions. Drawing on 25 in-depth interviews with policymakers, the paper finds that conceptual vagueness and a lack of clear definitions within the field have led to a myriad of terms being used to refer to the engagement of end-users in the sustainable innovation process. This lack of clarity has generated a confused policy narrative when discussing the role of end-user in sustainable innovation, making it difficult for insights to be shared with and drawn from others and resulting in a fragmented policy toolset. In addition to this ambiguity, the interviews revealed that policymakers often take a traditional view of innovation and its main actors, wherein end-users are seen as playing the role of ‘the informed consumer’ who drives the demand side but does not contribute to supply. Thus, despite significant evidence to the contrary, policymakers remain apprehensive about the potential of end-users driving sustainable innovation. The paper concludes that existing policy concerns are less about whether end-users innovate or not than whether this form of innovation can actually translate into public goods. The key takeaway for proponents of sustainable end-user innovation is that, from a policy perspective, the larger impact and business case has yet to be made.

Innovation platforms fostering low-carbon economy resource mobilisation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to highlight the potential of innovation platforms to realise SDGs targets by focussing in sustainable innovation process related to infrastructure and industrialisation. Design/methodology/approach Analysis of different policy documents, reports as well as a series of interviews and participatory processes run in 2016–2017 of the EIT Regional Innovation Scheme programme to prototype a knowledge triangle integration (KTI) index. Findings Preliminary findings show that EIT Climate-KIC operates as an innovation platform that mobilise resources to increases capabilities for climate innovation. Practical implications The paper contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of the efforts needed to tackle climate innovation regarding resource mobilisation for KTI processes by focussing on how platforms work in a bottom-up way. Originality/value Mechanisms and processes that consolidate local knowledge and strengthen relational assets with regards to climate innovation are important for the realisation of some of the 169 targets of the 2030 Agenda.