The most important theme of the discourse on sustainable development and sustainability challenges concerns the relationship between innovation and sustainability. This book represents a realistic critical overview of the state of affairs of sustainable innovations, offering an accessible and comprehensive diagnostic point of reference for both the academic and practitioner worlds. In order for sustainable innovation to truly become mainstream practice in business it is necessary to find out how organizations can strategically and efficiently accommodate sustainability and innovation in such a manner that they accomplish value capturing (for firms, stakeholders, and for society), not merely creating a return on the social responsibility agenda. Addressing this challenge, the book draws together research from a range of perspectives in order to understand the potential shifts and barriers, benefits, and outcomes from all angles: inception, strategic process, and impact for companies and society. The book also delivers insights of (open) innovation in public sector organizations, which is not so much a process of invention as it is one of adoption and diffusion. It examines how the environmental pillar of the triple bottom line in private firms is often a by-product of thinking about the economic pillar, where cost reductions may be achieved through process innovation in terms of eliminating waste and reducing energy consumption. The impact of open innovation on process innovation, and sustainable process innovation in particular, is an underexplored area but is examined in this book. It also considers the role of the individual entrepreneur in bringing about sustainable innovation; entrepreneurs, their small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as the innovation ecosystems they build play a significant role in generating sustainable innovations where these smaller organizations are much more flexible than large organizations in targeting societal needs and challenges. The readership will incorporate PhD students and postgraduate researchers, as well as practitioners from organizational advisory fields.

The most important theme of the discourse on sustainable development and sustainability challenges concerns the relationship between innovation and sustainability. This book represents a realistic critical overview of the state of affairs of sustainable innovations, offering an accessible and comprehensive diagnostic point of reference for both the academic and practitioner worlds. In order for sustainable innovation to truly become mainstream practice in business it is necessary to find out how organizations can strategically and efficiently accommodate sustainability and innovation in such a manner that they accomplish value capturing (for firms, stakeholders, and for society), not merely creating a return on the social responsibility agenda. Addressing this challenge, the book draws together research from a range of perspectives in order to understand the potential shifts and barriers, benefits, and outcomes from all angles: inception, strategic process, and impact for companies and society. The book also delivers insights of (open) innovation in public sector organizations, which is not so much a process of invention as it is one of adoption and diffusion. It examines how the environmental pillar of the triple bottom line in private firms is often a by-product of thinking about the economic pillar, where cost reductions may be achieved through process innovation in terms of eliminating waste and reducing energy consumption. The impact of open innovation on process innovation, and sustainable process innovation in particular, is an underexplored area but is examined in this book. It also considers the role of the individual entrepreneur in bringing about sustainable innovation; entrepreneurs, their small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as the innovation ecosystems they build play a significant role in generating sustainable innovations where these smaller organizations are much more flexible than large organizations in targeting societal needs and challenges. The readership will incorporate PhD students and postgraduate researchers, as well as practitioners from organizational advisory fields.

The book represents an accessible and comprehensive point of reference for both the academic and the practitioner world in showing how education can be transformed and innovated to become more sustainable and resilient. The recent covid crisis shows that the education system and approaches used are not sustainable but can be ambushed and reactive. How can we (in the present) determine what we should learn to be prepared for the future? How can education be changed so that we learn more quickly and more effectively? Not only focusing on new methods/technologies but also on innovation of the learning process. How to use the experience to create future proof education and how certain innovations in education play a role in this transition? These are some of the questions answered in the book. It represents an overview of the state of affairs of innovative techniques used in education from both distance and face-to-face education. The topic of innovation is highly relevant for both the business world and a challenging and complex subject for the education industry. This is a unique book that offers new empirical insights for practitioners and policy makers of the field. Our approach in designing this book was a critical reflection of field expertise and scholarly experience, tailored to the knowledge needs dictated by the novelty and complexity of the topic.

The concept of open innovation (OI) has become a very popular topic during the last decade, with increasing number of SMEs embracing OI practices to gain competitive advantage. This edited volume is a timely opportunity to gather research on OI in SMEs, to investigate how OI is managed and implemented to determine the peculiarities compared to OI management in large companies, and to specify the consequences for future OI research.The book offers insights into the following topics: The state of the art on open innovation in SMEs; adopting open innovation in SMEs; interorganizational networks and innovation ecosystems; sectoral patterns of open innovation in SMEs; and measuring, evaluating and stimulating open innovation in SMEs.