Unlocking Innovation for Net Zero!
I. Net Zero Innovation = Radical Innovation
For firms, net-zero innovation resembles the challenge of pursuing radical innovation:moving away from business as usual and investing in radically new technology while the outcome is highly uncertain.
II. Net-Zero Innovation Characteristics
1. Complex
It involves investing in low-carbon technologies with more complex, novel, and radical knowledge structures than conventional technologies and thus requires firms to acquire new capabilities to engage in such innovation.
2. Systemic
It is systemic; firms not only need to change their own business operations but also to coevolve with changes in their surrounding technical, economic, political, and social systems.
3. Urgent
It has high urgency to prevent the negative impacts of climate change
4. Directional
Is subject to the directionality of government policy more so than other types of innovation. This means that firms need to closely align their innovation strategies with the government"s preferred technology pathways to benefit from sustained government support
III. Net-Zero Innovation Capabilities
1. Recombinative
Compared to conventional technologies, low carbon technologies feature relative complex, novel, and radical knowledge structures, mandating more diverse technological components to be recombined in unique bundles of knowledge
2. Collaborative
Collaborative capabilities to work with external partners and other forms of external knowledge sourcing are paramount to unlocking potential complementaries and push technological boundaries
3. Integrative
Net-zero innovation relies on firms"recombinative and collaborative capabilities to access a wide pool of diverse knowledge and create novel technological combinations that lead to radical solutions.
4. Socio-cognitive
Successful transition pathways for net zero require addressing a lack of internal incentives to unlock the decarbonisation potential for incumbent firms and change the thinking of managers, employees, supply chain partners, customers, and governments about the need to tackle climate change.
VI. Conclusion
To move the needle on net-zero innovation, firms need to:
1. Introduce radical innovations that recombine their diverse and loosely connected innovation resources and capabilities
2. Integrate their net-zero efforts in-house with those of other stakeholders in industrial, regional, national, and global ecosystems
3. Transition their corporate purpose and managerial mindsets to align with deep decarbonisation.
Check out this wonderful report by Jonathan Pinkse, Pelin Demirel and Alba Marino here:
https://lnkd.in/dDbABnJR
#innovation #netzero #sustainability #climate #systems #complexity
