Today, sustainable innovation is wrongly understood from the point of view of correctess (an ideological level in which the focus is placed on issues apparently of Social Impact, which in fact do not bring real benefits to consumers).
A real sustainable innovation is an innovation with the following characteristics:
● The aim of innovation is Man – Innovation is a way of using technologies to improve people’s quality of life. In other words, the aim of innovation is not the development of technologies (more sophisticated, more “powerful”), because today consumer technologies (low-tech) are more than enough to greatly improve people’s lives (paradoxically they are more effective than Hi-tech). tech). <see “The role of technologies in innovation“ >
● Sustainability means positive qualities for the consumer (and for the environment). That is, innovation is sustainable when it leads to the creation of products that are:
– AFFORDABLE – the consumer is able to buy and maintain (!) the product (without making sacrifices) – this is the point that is not considered today. Among other things, a sustainable innovation must be based on a Paradigm shift of the Production and Distribution system, which allows to reduce purchase costs <see “Smart Manufacturing, the misunderstanding on the term Industry 4.0” > and maintenance costs, for example with an easy repairability of the product <see “New modalities of production of services and material products” in “Manifesto of Innovation (2): Innovation in the new post-industrial Market” >
– BEARABLE: do not create damage to people and the environment .
