Innovation is crucial for the growth and survival of a company. Those who fail to create new ideas, products, or systems fall behind and ultimately get left there. While traditional forms of design and innovation may result in profitable growth, the negative impact on employees and the environment is not maintainable.
Instead, corporations need to explore and embrace sustainable innovation and circular design to grow their firms and positively contribute to the world. Going green is essential for long-term growth and success, from designing new eco-friendly packaging to collaborating with like-minded partners.
What is sustainable innovation ?
Sustainable innovation is making intentional changes to a company’s products, services or processes to generate and sustain long-term social and environmental benefits while simultaneously generating financial profits.
Sustainability drives innovation by presenting new design constraints that must be met and ultimately shaping how essential resources -energy, carbon, water, materials and waste- are used for products and processes.
These resources were not necessarily viewed as important design constraints in the past. However, with the rise of sustainability and the need to implement greener practices, how companies choose to use these resources determines whether they are pursuing a destructive or sustainable path in innovation.
Why go sustainable?
In today’s business market, a sustainable company is one that is going to succeed. They attract better talent and loyal employees, a claim supported by a recent survey conducted by Deloitte, in which 49% of Millennials and Gen Zs stated their personal ethics and beliefs influence their career choices.
Secondly, businesses that consider their stakeholders and investors produce more impactful patents and a larger number of patents. This illustrates that sustainability directly leads to more innovation that is better quality. This is because those involved in these types of businesses are able to think more broadly and utilize different perspectives.
Trends have also shown that companies that care about sustainability have more resilience, an essential characteristic in a turbulent world. They are more likely to survive crises, experience less share-price volatility and generate more income over the long run.
Incorporating it into business
When incorporating sustainable innovations and improving operational processes, businesses can achieve the change they desire without changing their general business model. They can seek to find ways to do the same thing in a better way while reducing their negative impacts on the environment and surrounding society. This approach is sometimes known as ‘eco-efficiency’ and focuses on aspects like implementing renewable energy and recycling materials or reducing packaging, to name a few.
Alternatively, companies can create new products or services that meet societal needs and are eco-friendly, focusing on doing something new that is better and more sustainable instead of trying to do less harm with their current work. This shows how businesses view sustainable innovation as a business opportunity, shifting their mindset from doing things better to doing something new.
Finally, for corporations serious about sustainable innovation, looking to collaborate with others to create a positive impact is essential. More can be achieved by working as a unit, as a sustainable future is not possible by working individually. It is crucial to think beyond the boundaries of your own company and consider how others can work with you instead of against you.
Sustainable design
In order for businesses and brands to move towards more sustainable, regenerative product and service alternatives, companies should emulate the design principle that best services their business model and end goal.
Circular design
A circular design moves away from the traditional model that focuses on take-make-waste and instead prioritizes the process of continuously repurposing resources to achieve a closed-loop, significantly reducing or eliminating waste. It highlights the importance of redesigning products and business models that support reduction, repair, reuse, and recycling.
Lean design
The principles surrounding lean design focus on production, delivery and consumption that is cost-efficient and time effective. Processes are constantly updated and improved to ensure only the absolute minimum resources are used. According to The Lean Enterprise Institute, there are five key factors: identify value, map the stream, create flow, establish pull and seek perfection.
Biomimicry
Biomimicry involves searching for solutions to technical problems by studying what is already present in nature and using it to build new solutions. This theory strongly supports mimicking natural forms and different processes and examining how ecosystems co-exist to advance more sustainable, healthier technologies and designs.
Inclusive design
Inclusive designs hope to optimize the functionality of a product or service so it can be accessed across the globe and used by all kinds of people, regardless of age, gender or level of ability. Because of the extensive range this design needs to cover, achieving a practical, feasible and realistic solution must be woven into a brand’s ethos and DNA.
Clean design
The clean design prioritizes energy efficiency, pollution control, negative emissions technologies, and sustainable use of resource systems. The ultimate goal is a net-zero emission future, with investible opportunities in response to a growing demand for low-carbon products and infrastructure. This transition requires reducing emissions and building a more sustainable relationship with nature.
From Planning to Implementation
Committing to change is the easy part. Nearly 61% of countries and 21% of the world’s 2,000 largest public companies have set net-zero targets over the next 10-40 years. This is based on an assessment done by The Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit and Oxford Net Zero. However, delivering on these promises is far more complicated and challenging to achieve. Achieving net zero throughout an organization, from sourcing to design and distribution, is not an easy feat and requires serious investment and commitment.
Designing a roadmap that details all the necessary steps and changes that a company has to follow to achieve its goal and support the values they preach is vital to illustrate the supply chain and logistical nature of its corporation, highlighting potential problem areas and setting realistic goals and checkpoints through their innovation journey.
