Sustainability, Technology and Innovation 4.0 is a holistic perception and analysis of innovation at the level of public organisations, innovation in industry and innovation in HR. Its chapters collectively present a thesis that Innovation 4.0 signals a technological revolution that has the opportunity to prevent environmental degradation and, in particular, to stop climate warming, the effects of which may disrupt the process of sustainable development. Uniquely, this edited book offers a comprehensive and multi-faceted examination of Innovation 4.0, fulfilling methodical, empirical and utilitarian goals. The methodological objective is to present tools that allow the identification, analysis and assessment of the relationship between Innovation 4.0 and inspiration that will carry society towards a new economic and social order. Its empirical aim is to enable the analysis and evaluation of the role of public organisations, innovation in industry and innovation in HR in the process of building sustainable development of the global environment. The book’s utilitarian goal is a recommendation for global organisations of Innovation 4.0 as an instrument to stimulate an innovative economy. This is a high-level research book aimed at postgraduates, MBA students, researchers and academics from business colleges and universities, and may also provide a valuable strategic perspective for business executives.
Sustainability, Technology and Innovation 4.0 is a holistic perception and analysis of innovation at the level of public organisations, innovation in industry and innovation in HR. Its chapters collectively present a thesis that Innovation 4.0 signals a technological revolution that has the opportunity to prevent environmental degradation and, in particular, to stop climate warming, the effects of which may disrupt the process of sustainable development. Uniquely, this edited book offers a comprehensive and multi-faceted examination of Innovation 4.0, fulfilling methodical, empirical and utilitarian goals. The methodological objective is to present tools that allow the identification, analysis and assessment of the relationship between Innovation 4.0 and inspiration that will carry society towards a new economic and social order. Its empirical aim is to enable the analysis and evaluation of the role of public organisations, innovation in industry and innovation in HR in the process of building sustainable development of the global environment. The book’s utilitarian goal is a recommendation for global organisations of Innovation 4.0 as an instrument to stimulate an innovative economy. This is a high-level research book aimed at postgraduates, MBA students, researchers and academics from business colleges and universities, and may also provide a valuable strategic perspective for business executives.
Continuation along current development pathways is not sustainable. Available technology and production practices and the consumption patterns of modern societies are leading to global warming and ecological destruction. Business as usual is not an option. There is an urgent need to find a new development paradigm that ensures environmental sustainability while managing to provide, now and in the future, a decent livelihood for all of humankind. In Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development, experts in the area provide a variety of insights about the technical transformation needed for sustainable development. It spells out the behavioural and policy changes that would need to accompany the next technological transformation, taking into account the complexity of inducing technological change in the energy and agricultural sectors. The assessment suggests that this will require major, but doable improvements in national innovation systems and major, but affordable shifts in investment patterns and related macroeconomic adjustments.
After the United Nations adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to "end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all," researchers and policy makers highlighted the importance of targeted investment in science, technology, and innovation (STI) to make tangible progress. Science, Technology, and Innovation for Sustainable Development Goals showcases the roles that STI solutions can play in meeting on-the-ground socio-economic and environmental challenges among domestic and international organizations concerned with the SDGs in three overlapping areas: agriculture, health, and environment/energy. Authors and researchers from 31 countries tackle both big-picture questions, such as scaling up the adoption and diffusion of new sustainable technologies, and specific, localized case studies, focusing on developing and middle-income countries and specific STI solutions and policies. Issues addressed include renewable energy, automated vehicles, vaccines, digital health, agricultural biotechnology, and precision agriculture. In bringing together diverse voices from both policy and academic spheres, this volume provides practical and relevant insights and advice to support policy makers and managers seeking to enhance the roles of STI in sustainable development.
Facilitating Sustainable Innovation through Collaboration, takes an unusually international perspective of sustainable innovation with contributions from Australia, Europe, and North America. Prominent policy makers, scientific researchers and practitioners in this field provide various inputs and analyses relating to the development of sustainable innovations. It is expected that policy makers, organizations, individual researchers, students and even communities can further develop and implement concepts and practices by drawing on the variety of projects and theoretical foundations presented in this volume.
'Joseph Huber's book contains a wealth of information on technological environmental innovations. The scrutiny of this material leads to powerful conclusions, with which scholars should concern themselves. Highly recommended.' - René Kemp, Maastricht University, The Netherlands 'This timely and impressive volume brings technology back into the centre of discussions and debates on environmental reform. In articulating an ecological modernisation perspective, Joseph Huber presents an inspiring, optimistic and at times provocative assessment of the potential and future role of radical technological innovations in greening production-consumption cycles.' - Arthur P.J. Mol, Wageningen University, The Netherlands In this insightful book, Joseph Huber investigates the life cycle analysis of technological and environmental innovations (TEIs). TEIs are new technologies, products and practices which have benign environmental effects and which can increase eco-efficiency. More importantly, they can also improve 'metabolic consistency', thus laying the foundations for a sustainable industrial ecology.
The most important theme of the discourse on sustainable development and sustainability challenges concerns the relationship between innovation and sustainability. This book represents a realistic critical overview of the state of affairs of sustainable innovations, offering an accessible and comprehensive diagnostic point of reference for both the academic and practitioner worlds. In order for sustainable innovation to truly become mainstream practice in business it is necessary to find out how organizations can strategically and efficiently accommodate sustainability and innovation in such a manner that they accomplish value capturing (for firms, stakeholders, and for society), not merely creating a return on the social responsibility agenda. Addressing this challenge, the book draws together research from a range of perspectives in order to understand the potential shifts and barriers, benefits, and outcomes from all angles: inception, strategic process, and impact for companies and society. The book also delivers insights of (open) innovation in public sector organizations, which is not so much a process of invention as it is one of adoption and diffusion. It examines how the environmental pillar of the triple bottom line in private firms is often a by-product of thinking about the economic pillar, where cost reductions may be achieved through process innovation in terms of eliminating waste and reducing energy consumption. The impact of open innovation on process innovation, and sustainable process innovation in particular, is an underexplored area but is examined in this book. It also considers the role of the individual entrepreneur in bringing about sustainable innovation; entrepreneurs, their small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as the innovation ecosystems they build play a significant role in generating sustainable innovations where these smaller organizations are much more flexible than large organizations in targeting societal needs and challenges. The readership will incorporate PhD students and postgraduate researchers, as well as practitioners from organizational advisory fields.
Modern societies face several structural problems such as transport congestion and greenhouse gas emissions due to the widespread use of fossil fuels. To address these important societal problems and achieve sustainability in the broad sense, major transformations are required, but this poses an enormous challenge given the complexity of the processes involved. Such transformations are called 'transitions' or 'system innovations' and involve changes in a variety of elements, including technology, regulation, user practices and markets, cultural meaning and infrastructure. This book considers two main questions: how do system innovations or transitions come about and how can they be influenced by different actors, in particular by governments. The authors identify the theories which can be used to conceptualise the dynamics of system innovations and discuss the weaknesses in these theories. They also look at the lessons which can be learned from historical examples of transitions, and highlight the instruments and policy tools which can be used to stimulate future system innovations towards sustainability. The expert contributors address these questions using insights from a variety of different disciplines including innovation studies, evolutionary economics, the sociology of technology, environmental analysis and governance studies. The book concludes with an extensive summary of the results and practical suggestions for future research. This important new volume offers an interdisciplinary assessment of how and why system innovations occur. It will engage and inform academics and researchers interested in transitions towards sustainability, and will also be highly relevant for policymakers concerned with environmental issues, structural change and radical innovation.
ÔThere is no debate about the fact that a Òbusiness as usualÓ approach is an environmentally unsustainable one. Given the magnitude of the environmental challenges the world faces today, extensive changes in corporate strategies and significant innovation advances are absolutely necessary if we are to avoid substantial decreases in our quality of living. This set of internationally recognized authors provides some fresh and informative perspectives on this topic along with a path for a more sustainable future.Õ Ð Mark Ferguson, University of South Carolina, US Corporations across the world are becoming increasingly aware of the threat of environmental degradation and the growing importance of sustainable business practices. This raises a vital question: How can for-profit firms (and other profit-conscious enterprises such as government organizations) implement more environmentally friendly policies without sacrificing profitability? This innovative volume tackles that complex question, offering detailed recommendations for making strategic technological choices that are economically advantageous, ecologically sustainable and socially responsible. Expert contributions examine the contextual factors that affect implementation of more sustainable technology and innovation practices, offering a number of empirical methodologies to describe and explain these multidimensional influences. What emerges is a compelling argument in favor of balanced strategies that merge profitability concerns with ecological consciousness, allowing for controlled sustainable development and stable, long-term economic success. Discussion of companies in both developed and emerging countries makes this book useful on a truly global scale. Students and professors of business, management studies and economics will find much to admire in this path-breaking volume. Managers, policymakers and other practitioners will also benefit greatly from this bookÕs timely and insightful recommendations.
Innovation involves a set of processes which support the production and transformation of knowledge into new processes, technologies and products, goods and services, and provide an organization with particular strengths and value relative to other firms. In such a view, innovation is a key source of customer benefits and sustainable competitive advantage. Technological, Managerial and Organizational Core Competencies: Dynamic Innovation and Sustainable Development investigates the impact of knowledge management, information systems, finance, organizational networks, internationalization, strategic management, marketing, entrepreneurship, and sustainability on an organization that pursues dynamic innovation and sustainable advantage. This book provides research and practice for graduate and undergraduate programs, as well as business firms with different technological, managerial, and organizational perspectives. Further Description from the Editors: This book represents the culmination of an international project to compile inter-disciplinary research that most contributes to innovation. More specifically, this book is about innovation in firms, industries, nations and society. It speaks to professionals and researchers who want to improve their understanding of dynamic innovation and sustainable development. The Editors’ goal is to foster cross-pollination among researchers. To this aim, the Editors have selected and assembled 35 chapters that illustrate multidisciplinary theoretical perspectives and empiric results on innovation and the roles of Sustainability, Organizational Networks, Entrepreneurship, Knowledge Management, R&D&T (Research, Development and Technology) Management, Marketing, Finance, Internationalization, and Information Systems in the organization that pursues dynamic innovation and sustainable development. Innovation involves processes, organizational elements (or resources), and Organizational Abilities (OA) that support the production and transformation of knowledge into new knowledge, processes, structures, technologies and products, goods and services. At the firm and industry levels of analysis, innovation can provide organizations with strengths relative to other firms, clusters, and nations and it is a key source of customer benefits and sustainable development. At the collective and societal levels of analysis, innovation can provide humanity with economic, social and environmental wealth through sustainable development. The uniqueness of this book lies in the participants’ efforts to identify Organizations' Creative Areas (OCA) that can provide core competencies for the organization in pursuit of dynamic innovation and sustainable development. In this perspective, innovation is a dynamic system and it is contingent upon a set of core competencies that couple to each other. Therefore, changing of even one competence can affect the organization's ability to innovate. The book avoids the term competitive advantage and adopts a more fruitful perspective of sustainable development – “the process of achieving human development … in an inclusive, connected, equitable, prudent, and secure manner”. An inclusive perspective sees traditional competitive advantage as occupying one extreme, whereas truly sustainable development occupies the opposite extreme. Sustainable development must benefit not only the organization and its customers, but also the whole society and the future of humanity through sustainability. Most chapters of this book fall between these extremes.
