Sustainable Innovation: Importance, Examples and Reflection on Current Lifestyle

This report covers the importance of sustainable innovation, its impact on the environment, and how it has altered the business world. It also provides examples of sustainable innovation and a reflection on how to comply with sustainability ideals in daily life. The report cites various studies and research on sustainable innovation and its benefits for the economy. It emphasizes the need for companies to adopt sustainable practices and reduce their carbon footprint. The report is relevant for anyone interested in sustainability and its impact on the environment.

Individual case study
analysis

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................2
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
Examine your current lifestyle and write a reflective document on how you could comply
with the sustainability ideals.......................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
With the rise of the technology various innovations have been made so far with the vision
to achieve sustainability in the organised system. Sustainability means reasonable use of natural
resources by giant corporate industry sector. Innovation means to bring the vision into reality
with positive approach to make natural cycle of earth more cleaner and healthier. Combination of
both widened the scope which aims to boost eco-friendly approach across the world to achieve
the clean ecosystem by reducing the use of natural resources to produce energy and embrace the
idea using renewable source of energy such as solar,wind, hydel power etc(Albert 2019). Across
the world an attempt is being made by all the governments and giant corporations to pursue eco-
friendly approach to fight energy crisis throughout the world. This report will cover all the
important parameters of sustainable innovations along with a reflection on current
lifestyle(Kluvankova and et.al.,2021).
TASK
Sustainable innovation pertains to modern alterations in companies and its operations,
especially in its products and services. The idea behind adopting these changes is to achieve long
term social and environmental benefits and generating capital which ultimately profits the
economy. Many studies and research have been going on to understand the benefits and the
expected challenges on industry research programme. The review made on this topic by various
academicians and researchers had suggested how innovation can benefits the sustainability in
industries in respect of products, services and operations(Asadiand et.al., 2020).
By application of process of sustainable innovation, companies can create and provide
new commodities which can help in contributing the sustainability. For example: green
hydrogen, an Indian initiative to generate electricity by using fuel cells. Hydrogen is a chemical
element which is available in abundance in the Universe. The main characteristics of it are: it has
no colour, taste and highly flammable gaseous matter(Buhl and et.al 2019 ). The term green
signifies the “fuel of the future”. It reflects the process that how electricity is created to incur the
hydrogen, which during the process of generating electricity does not release greenhouse gas
when burned.
In UK also, various startups and existing companies working in this direction with a view to
adopt sustainable innovation. For example, Upcircle is one of the startup which is following the

process of sustainable innovation. Upcircle is a beauty merchandise which manufactures natural,
high quality skincare with a unique method. They use waste ingredients of coffee grounds to
create their beauty skin products.
The other company is oddbox situate in London. This company deals with the waste
food. They save fruit and vegetables that is leftover or thrown away. There are various other
companies and startup which are working in order to achieve sustainable innovation.
The reasons behind pursuing the measures of sustainable innovation is to achieve the objectives
of Paris Agreement which is an international treaty on climate change which has imposed
limitation on global warming to keep it below 2 degree Celsius. The present condition of world
is worst and the world is trying to bring it at normal temperature by collective efforts of all world
leaders. Not just UK, almost all the developing and developed countries are pursuing the
innovative ways to sustain the development and profits of business and corporations.
The current economic environment made it necessity for pursuing sustainable innovation.
The global concern on environment is keep raising. Considering the prevailing business
conditions, there is a great emergence in the market which has created new competitive market
benefits for a company who is working on sustainability plan. For achieving sustainable
innovation inclusion of several parameters in the strategic management of organisation is
required. The companies with a proper strategies required to bring productive innovation to
overcome complex barriers and focused more to become sustainability-oriented.. innovation
helps in improving sustainability and performance of company. The term performance covers the
major environmental factors such as ecological, economic, and social structure. Sustainable
innovation has also created its own identity and developed its market, products and services
which are more eco-friendly and sustainability-oriented. This proves that the concept of
sustainability does not limit to environment only, it has obtained a widened status throughout the
world, as it now facilitates other advantages such as long-term goals and more profits(Schmidt-
Keilich and Schrader, 2019).
Innovation derived from sustainability is the formation of new arena where new market
products, services are introduced which are motivated by social or environment issue.
Sustainable innovation depends on various factors which impacts its processes in sustainable
development such as social and economic(Franceschelli,Santoro and Candelo,2018).
Importance of sustainable innovation

 creation of new product and services: sustainable innovation motivates companies to
think outside the box to develop a product which fulfils all the essential of sustainability
considering the factors of social, economic and environment.
 Unique operational processes: the process of product developing should be unique.
Process change means, changes in many factors ranging from designs to its functionality.
 Contributes in sustainable business: it aims to fulfil the demands of the present
generations without making any compromise considering the future needs. Business
establishments required to actively comply the with the rules and regulations and actively
take measures to remove issues relating to human rights. The aim of the companies who
seeks to engage in sustainable innovation go beyond and focus on investing and adopting
latest technologies and individual for future(Chege and Wang 2020).
 Sustainable innovation is profitable for business: sustainability in innovation helps the
business in various ways. The most important thing it does is it address the demands of
present customer considering the greater sustainability. It does not only aims to achieve
the environment sustainability but it includes sustainable creative ideas, economic
performance and social awarenessWeiminand et.al2022).
 Inspires innovative ideas for sustainable development: sustainable development is
being practised more for creating new startups and upgrading the prevailing
infrastructures. The aim is to build resource efficient and sustainable environment at the
workplace.
Sustainability and innovation has developed a natural partnership because it leads to creation of
best things which shapes the world in much better way collectively.
Examples of sustainable innovations
sustainability is no exceptional no, people are aware about the benefits of sustainability
and they keep promoting benefits of it and provides new architectures and procedures in place of
traditional production criteria. There are several companies established in United Kingdom
which are titles as sustainable companies have fascinated the world by their appreciative work in
the product creation which shows their dedication and commitment towards protection and
sustainability.
 “Bulb” a UK based company which produces electricity by using renewable source of
energy such as , water, air, sun. There is abundance availability of these sources

considering the location and proper use of this resource can help in generating energy
without releasing any waste. This company have built many wind farms across the sea
coastal region and have initiated the rainforest preventive programs.
 “Pavegen” this company has uniquely use the technology and converted the footsteps
into generating electricity this is something which has mesmerised the world. This
creation consist of special tiles that are arranged on the floor in such a way that someone
if steps on these tiles, the electricity will produce. These model is installed in the busiest
places to work more effectively.
From the above examples it is clear how useful can be technology if use without damaging the
natural ecology of the world.
Examine your current lifestyle and write a reflective document on how you could comply
with the sustainability ideals
Sustainable innovation is currently in issue because it deals with conservation of
environment. It was found out by me that is very important for an individual to practice things
in respect to be effective and efficient. The sustainability is the framework which is used to make
things more contributed towards environment. It is the responsibility of an individual to conserve
natural resources for the future generations. The sustainable development is important for the
future generations and its an necessary aspects of an individual to focus on saving natural
resources in order to use for the next generation. Excess exploitation of natural resources leads to
unavailability of resources for next generation. The current lifestyle which I adopted is that I will
try to consume eco-friendly product more and more in my daily life. Through various ways I
practice sustainable innovation in my daily routine activities which help in conserving and
preserving natural resources and environment(Gupta,Kusi-Sarpong and Rezaei 2020).
 I focused on using eco-friendly product like single usage plastic bags or jute bags which
are nature friendly and easy to decompose. And I try to spread more awareness about
eco-friendly products their benefits. I used my personal carry bag while purchase of
foodstuff from the market. As plastic is a material which cannot easily decompose so, I
tried to use minimum plastics products as it is harmful for environment. It is very
essential to practice such habit in regular household activities so that natural resources
remain sustainable.

 The another prospect of using sustainable innovation is that before purchasing any
product I focus on ingredient of product whether such products are environment friendly
or not. I stop using such products which are made from animals specially which are
consider as endangered species which are considered as illegal to buy. I adopt it in my
present lifestyle.
 I focus on using such product which can easily reusable. It will help in maintaining the
sustainability of natural resources. As it is very necessary for the improvement of
sustainable practices in order to make more efficacious. In context of business
organisation they required consider several aspect like they suppose to reduce emission
of carbon dioxide which affect the depilation of ozone layer. So, while manufacturing
their products they focus on minimum usage of CO2 which is helpful in saving
environment.
CONCLUSION
From the above information on sustainable innovation it can be concluded that the
sustainable and innovation goes hand in hand. Their merger has benefited the world. The above
report has covered all the major aspects of the sustainable innovation, its importance in 21
century has become more inevitable because it promotes in environment protection. The
advantage of sustainability and its scope has changed the traditional market structure and has
evolved as a new market place with new products, service and process. The report has also cited
most relevant examples on sustainable innovation, the companies who has adopted the model of
sustainable development with creation of nova products and services in the new market
considering the preference of customers and the environment. Ultimately, sustainable innovation
altered the business world and has given a new way of conducting business operations. This
report has also covered the reflection on the current lifestyle while complying with the
sustainability ideals.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Albert, M., 2019. Sustainable frugal innovation-The connection between frugal innovation and
sustainability. Journal of Cleaner Production, 237, p.117747.
Asadi, S and et.al., 2020. Investigating influence of green innovation on sustainability
performance: A case on Malaysian hotel industry. Journal of cleaner production, 258,
p.120860.
Buhl, A and et.al 2019 Design thinking for sustainability: Why and how design thinking can
foster sustainability-oriented innovation development. Journal of cleaner
production, 231, pp.1248-1257.
Chege, S.M. and Wang, D., 2020. The influence of technology innovation on SME performance
through environmental sustainability practices in Kenya. Technology in Society, 60,
p.101210.
Franceschelli, M.V., Santoro, G. and Candelo, E., 2018. Business model innovation for
sustainability: a food start-up case study. British Food Journal.
Gupta, H., Kusi-Sarpong, S. and Rezaei, J., 2020. Barriers and overcoming strategies to supply
chain sustainability innovation. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 161, p.104819.
Kluvankova and et.al.,2021. Social innovation for sustainability transformation and its diverging
development paths in marginalised rural areas. Sociología ruralis, 61(2), pp.344-371.
Schmidt-Keilich, M. and Schrader, U., 2019. Sustainability innovation by integrating employees:
the potential of sustainable embedded lead users. International Journal of Innovation
and Sustainable Development, 13(1), pp.98-115.
Weimin, Z and et.al ., 2022. A pathway toward future sustainability: assessing the influence of
innovation shocks on CO2 emissions in developing economies. Environment,
Development and Sustainability, 24(4), pp.4786-4809.