Practices of a "green" front end of innovation; A gateway to environmental innovation

Practices of a "green" front end of innovation; A gateway to environmental innovation

Hassi, L.
Wever, R.

Industrial Design Engineering

Design Engineering

2010-10-25

Activities in the fuzzy front end of the innovation process (FFE) are the root of success for any company hoping to compete on the basis of innovations. Considering the importance of the FFE, it would seem logical to bring the environmental considerations already to the activities of the early stages of the innovation process in order to generate environmental innovations. However, there is still little understanding on how to, in practice, best bring environmental considerations into this part of the innovation process. There are two central questions considered in this paper: are companies integrating environmental considerations into the FFE activities and if yes, how? In this paper we illustrate the current FFE practices from the perspective of environmental considerations. The paper is based on in-depth interviews with eight multinational companies, based in Europe. The interviews reveal that most companies do have experience with considering the environmental requirements in the FFE, but there are significant differences in the “green” FFE practices in terms of frequency, structure and the role the environmental requirements play in the activities of the FFE. The paper also initiates discussion into what type of opportunities for environmental innovations could become apparent when environmental considerations are integrated into the FFE.

front end of innovation
design
environmental sustainability
environmental innovation
goal finding

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5f6a5083-09fc-4ca7-8a5c-c1d06989bc43

Delft University of Technology

9789051550658

Knowledge Collaboration & Learning for Sustainable Innovation: ERSCP-EMSU Conference, 25-29 October 2010, Delft, The Netherlands

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c) 2010 Hassi, L.; Wever, R.