Creating value, not wasting resources: sustainable innovation strategies

It is well-accepted in academic and public debate that society has overused natural resources. Business managers in consequence face a normative framework where products need to become more ‘sustainable’. The paper characterises the mechanisms and logic that make ‘[environmentally] sustainable innovation strategies’. Those mechanisms highlight multiple value creation and sustaining value beyond the original new product lifecycle. They yield as much utility as possible from the embedded natural resources. And they avoid creating waste. ‘Multiple value creation’ asks managers to revaluate the attrite product or to make customers change their use patterns. The paper then demonstrates how to extend the ‘old’ logic of innovation with a phase of revaluation: a phase promoting further use of the product and/or material. Our concept is empirically illustrated by two industry case examples. Namely, the copier industry and the emerging automotive lithium-ion batteries industry. We provide a patent analysis in order to demonstrate the assessment of extended life cycles, for the case of ‘recovery of raw materials from disposed products’.

Beckton Sustainable Living Initiative, Working Paper 4.

This working paper reflects the authors’ involvement with a civic engagement project funded by the University of East London’s (UEL) Institute for Civic Engagement. It was a collaborative initiative between the Centre for Social Justice and Change, School of Social Sciences, and UEL’s Sustainability Research Institute. The initiative commenced in November 2015 and was completed in July 2016. The civic engagement project is part of an ongoing sustainable living project in Beckton. Situated in the hinterland of UEL’s Docklands campus in the London Borough of Newham this initiative provided an opportunity to work with communities local to UEL. Our involvement in a civic engagement initiative raised issues about what our role as students representing a University might involve, how we may contribute rather than replicate or duplicate ongoing local activities, and what additional skills we could bring to make a positive contribution. Our project was about taking practical actions; by completing a communal garden in a local park and distributing water-saving devices to enable households to reduce their expenditure and contribute towards sustainable living. Research findings informed these practical actions and we were able to use our knowledge concerning environmental sustainability and research in discussions with residents and local agencies. Our experience also raised issues about how best to do research that can be used to inform and facilitate social action. This is particularly challenging in local communities which are ethnically diverse and culturally fragmented. This working paper describes our experiences and reflections.