Sustainable Innovation: The Organization, Human and Knowledge Dimension
Contributing Editor:René Jorna
Greenleaf Publishing
October 2006
www.greenleaf-publishing.com
This book presents empirical research and cases to develop a theory of sustainable innovation that is based on management of knowledge, knowledge and cognition and innovation approaches. It argues that knowledge and innovation will be the key drivers of social and corporate sustainability in the years ahead.
As challenges such as demographic pressures, ethnic tensions, terrorism, global poverty, pandemics and abrupt climate change force their way into mainstream politics and business, so we see growing interest in innovation, entrepreneurial solutions and, critically, issues such as how to ensure successful solutions replicate and scale.Sustainable Innovation aims to illustrate that shift. Instead of simply focusing on environmental and technological matters, it views and evaluates innovation-for-sustainability in terms of the human, social and management challenges and responses.
It argues that a just, efficient and sustainable balancing of these elements is best achieved by the development of new knowledge, and by the evolution of better means both of embedding that emerging knowledge in organisations and institutions, and of managing the relevant flows of information, knowledge and wisdom. The book stresses that claims that a particular product, production process or service are sustainable usually assume that an appropriate balance has been achieved between people, planet and profit. However, calculating the sustainability of such things, let alone of complex systems such as enterprises or economies, can be impossible. Sustainable Innovation argues that there must be a constant focus on the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental value creation during the innovation process.
Sustainable Innovation suggests that knowledge and innovation will be the key drivers of social and corporate sustainability in the years ahead. It will be essential reading for managers and researchers in areas such as sustainability, innovation, knowledge management and organisational learning.
Table of Contents
Part A: Sustainable innovation: the organisational, human and knowledge dimension
- Knowledge creation for sustainable innovation: the KCSI programme
- Innovation: many-headed and certainly important
- Sustainability: from environment and technology to people and organisations
- Levels of description, kinds of entities and systems
- Organisation: artefact and principle
- Knowledge as a basis for innovation: management and creation
Part B: Instruments and models
- A method for the identification of stakeholders
- A cognitive map of sustainability: a method for assessing mental images
- Knowledge systems and reasoning with cases (and rules)
Part C: The organisational (business) projects
- Biosoil: sustainable remediation
- KunstStoffenHuis and synthetics innovation within the small business sector
- Know what you’re blending! a tool for a sustainable paper industry
- Philips and the long road towards social sustainability
- Knowledge systems for sustainable innovation of starch potato production: achieving more with less
- Sustainability of knowledge within mental healthcare: knowledge infrastructure, knowledge management and learning
- The University Medical Centre Groningen. Sustainable innovation in postgraduate medical education: a knowledge and learning approach
- Grontmij: cooperation in the light of sustainability
