Draft:Sustainable Innovation

• Comment: We would need secondary sources that discuss this term, not purely sourced by Visciola's publication. Qcne (talk) 14:01, 5 March 2024 (UTC)

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Sustainable Innovation

Sustainable Innovation is a holistic approach to the traditional understanding of innovation, extending beyond economic and technological dimensions to incorporate a strong emphasis on behavioral change. As coined by Michele Visciola in his publication "Sustainable Innovation" (2022) this concept recognizes that innovation not only introduces new products and services but also triggers intended and desired behavioral changes and paves the way for evolutionary journeys that combine personal and social good.

Definition

"Innovation is sustainable only if it answers the primary goal of preventing and correcting the social consequences of bounded rationality, by promoting active awareness, widespread involvement, and collaboration as enabling factors for creative development" and positive social and cultural impact.

Behavioral Dimension of Sustainability

Sustainable Innovation distinguishes itself by focusing on the "behavioral" dimension of sustainability. It acknowledges that people's behaviors are influenced by social, economic, and environmental conditions, and, in turn, these behaviors have significant impacts on the economy, environment, and society.

Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The behavioral dimension is central to all 17 interlinked objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), serving as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”.

Key Dimensions of Sustainability

Sustainable Innovation expands the traditional dimensions of sustainability, which typically include environmental, economic, and social aspects, by incorporating the often overlooked behavioral dimension. More articulated positions also include cultural and political dimensions, making Sustainable Innovation a comprehensive framework for addressing multifaceted challenges.

Frameworks and Models

Sustainable Innovation Ladder (SIRL)

Michele Visciola proposes the Sustainable Innovation Readiness Ladder (SIRL) as a framework to guide political decision-makers and to initiate experiments at the onset of technological revolutions. This ladder includes stages from basic principles observed to a replicable system, ensuring a comprehensive and intentional approach to sustainable innovation.

Comparison with Technology Readiness Level (TRL)

The SIRL can be compared to the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), emphasizing the importance of integrating social sciences and humanities within technological strategies. The conjoint use of SIRL and TRL provides a comprehensive evaluation of both technological and behavioral readiness.

Influencing Factors on Sustainable Innovation

Bounded Rationality

Sustainable Innovation recognizes bounded rationality as a key factor inhibiting behavioral change. The concept goes beyond mere nudging strategies, focusing on measures that induce a strong cognitive impact to boost intended behavioral changes.

Policy Impact

Regulations and policies play a crucial role in promoting sustainable innovation by influencing consumer competence, readiness to change, and collaborative agency. The Sustainable Innovation Readiness Ladder helps in assessing and guiding policy impact, ensuring intentional and systemic objectives.

Connection to related topics

Sustainable Innovation has intricate connections with various related concepts, including:

• Cultural evolution and progress are intricately tied to sustainable innovation, as they involve the transformation of societal values and norms, aligning with the behavioral changes promoted by sustainable innovation.
• Socio-cultural evolution explores the intersection of social and cultural factors in driving change. Sustainable innovation leverages socio-cultural insights to design interventions that foster positive behavioral shifts within communities.
• Impact assessment on polivx is crucial for sustainable innovation, ensuring that regulations and policies not only support technological advancements but also encourage positive behavioral changes, aligning with the objectives of sustainable innovation.
• Social impact assessment is therefore inherently included as focus in Sustainable innovation, acknowledging that behavioral changes have far-reaching consequences on communities and society at large.
• Impact investing resonates with sustainable innovation by directing financial resources toward initiatives that create positive social and environmental impacts, emphasizing the need for intentional and sustainable behavioral change.
• Sustainable innovation seeks to internalize the costs of positive externalities, ensuring that the benefits of behavioral changes are considered as valuable contributions to the common good, going beyond the traditional economic view of externalities.
• Behavioral change theories form the foundation of sustainable innovation, guiding the design of interventions that effectively influence and sustain positive behavioral changes, aligning with the overarching goals of the sustainable innovation concept.
• Nudge theory and algorithmic nudging play a role in sustainable innovation by influencing individuals' decision-making processes. Sustainable innovation expands on these concepts to ensure that nudges lead to long-lasting, positive behavioral changes.
• Sustainable innovation incorporates various change design techniques, such as boosting, to actively shape and design behavioral changes, recognizing the need for intentional interventions to achieve sustainable outcomes.
• In-context learning and prompt engineering are essential tools for sustainable innovation, providing insights into how contextual factors influence behaviors and how targeted prompts can drive positive changes in real-life situations.
• Understanding bounded rationality, self-interest, willpower, and individual literacy is fundamental to sustainable innovation, as it addresses the cognitive and psychological factors that influence individual behaviors, guiding the development of effective interventions.
• Sustainable innovation contrasts with dark patterns, emphasizing transparent and ethical design to encourage positive behavioral changes, ensuring that innovation serves the common good without resorting to manipulative tactics.
• The concept of agency in psychology aligns with sustainable innovation by recognizing individuals' capacity to act intentionally. Sustainable innovation aims to empower individuals with agency, fostering active participation in positive behavioral changes and cultural evolution.
• Collaboration is a cornerstone of sustainable innovation, recognizing that complex challenges require collective efforts. Sustainable innovation encourages collaborative approaches to drive meaningful behavioral changes for societal and environmental well-being.
• Sustainable innovation acknowledges and addresses cognitive biases, ensuring that interventions are designed with an understanding of how biases influence decision-making, fostering more effective and sustainable behavioral changes.
• The distinction between automatic and controlled processes is crucial for sustainable innovation. It recognizes that behavioral changes may involve both automatic responses and intentional, controlled processes, guiding the design of interventions that target these aspects.
• Dual process theory informs sustainable innovation by recognizing the interplay between automatic and controlled processes in decision-making. Sustainable innovation interventions consider both processes to achieve lasting behavioral changes.
• Sustainable innovation places emphasis on enhancing self-efficacy, wealth, brain capital and overall well-being, recognizing that psychological readiness is a key determinant for individuals to engage in positive behavioral changes.
• Technology readiness and the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) are closely linked to sustainable innovation. However, sustainable innovation requires not only technological readiness but also behavioral and societal readiness, prompting the conjoint use of SIRL and TRL frameworks.
• Sustainable innovation challenges technological determinism by emphasizing intentional and systemic change. It recognizes that technology alone is insufficient, and intentional efforts are needed to shape positive behavioral changes for sustainable outcomes.
• Neo-Schumpeterian economics aligns with sustainable innovation in recognizing the importance of creative destruction and innovation waves. However, sustainable innovation calls for intentional and sustainable behavioral changes in response to technological revolutions.
• Sustainable innovation draws extensively from behavioral economics, considering the social, cultural, and behavioral consequences of technological revolutions. It aims to address and model these consequences, going beyond traditional economic perspectives.
• Behavioral design is integral to sustainable innovation, guiding the intentional shaping of behavioral changes for positive societal and environmental impacts. Sustainable innovation employs behavioral design principles to create effective and lasting interventions.
• Social determinants of health and behavioral determinants are central to sustainable innovation. It recognizes that addressing behavioral determinants is essential for improving health outcomes and fostering well-being within communities.
• Recommender systems play a role in sustainable innovation by influencing individual choices. Sustainable innovation considers how recommender systems can be ethically employed to guide users toward sustainable behaviors.
• Foundation models serve as a basis for sustainable innovation, providing insights into the fundamental aspects of human behavior. Sustainable innovation leverages foundation models to design interventions that resonate with the underlying drivers of behavioral change.

By interlinking these concepts, sustainable innovation forms a comprehensive approach that considers technological, economic, social, and behavioral dimensions to foster positive and lasting changes for the common good and the well-being of the planet. Sustainable innovation strategies are aligned with economic goals, intending to modify behavior and culture for the common good. It emphasizes the importance of participatory and inclusive models to ensure that innovative solutions benefit the entire population.

Local versus Global Diffusion

Ensuring lasting sustainable innovation requires a focus on local communities, leveraging their perseverance and understanding of contextual behaviors. Communication strategies based on awareness are more likely to succeed when tailored to local contexts.

Large-Scale Programs

Large-scale projects are essential for spreading technology-based innovation, but Sustainable Innovation urges a move beyond a purely technological approach. It advocates for the integration of social and behavioral approaches, with a focus on resource allocation and overall progressive evolution.

Sustainable Innovation offers therefore a paradigm shift by emphasizing the behavioral dimension of sustainability. By connecting technology, social sciences, and humanities, this approach aims to create intentional and systemic change, ensuring that innovation serves human well-being, societal progress, and environmental sustainability.