Sustainable Innovation Cultures

There is a saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Similarly, it takes a whole culture to achieve sustainable innovation in a repeatable and reliable manner. So, how can companies and nonprofit organizations turn sustainability strategies into real-world practice? How can they innovate to gain a competitive edge while contributing to sustainable and regenerative development? And where should you as an innovation, sustainability or human resource manager begin?
In this first comprehensive work on sustainable innovation cultures, the authors show how organizational culture translates sustainability-related values into environmentally, socially and economically valuable outcomes. By aligning sustainability literacy with appropriate practices and mediating artefacts (including those of artificial intelligence), virtuous circles of targeted output, valuable outcomes and desired impacts can be created. Three stages of activity are crucial if an organization is to grow a sustainable innovation culture—namely conceiving, co-creating and cultivating. First understand and specify the organization’s values, tensions and values-action gaps, then co-create targeted interventions, and finally cultivate sustainable innovation practices and methods.
This framework and its practices and methods are based on a comprehensive literature review, expert interviews and ethnographic field studies in transformational companies across Europe with a global presence. Case studies and examples illustrate each of the 32 practices and 36 methods described in the book. The companion site offers extensive training, educational media and materials such as card sets, videos, podcasts and slide decks for practitioners and educators. Academic syllabi as well as certified educational materials and university modules are available on an open access basis.

Henning Breuer researches, teaches and consults in the fields of innovation management and business psychology. He is a professor of Business and Media Psychology at the Media University Berlin, founder of UXBerlin – Innovation Consulting, and has worked in executive education and consulting with universities and companies in Europe and the United States.
Since 2001, Henning has worked with multinational corporations, SMEs,public organisations and start-ups, providing consultancy services in the areas of sustainable innovation culture and business models, future scenarios and ethnographic stakeholder research. Henning has co-authored publications for journals, conferences and textbooks on values-based innovation management, sustainable business model design, gamification for innovators and entrepreneurs, and sustainable innovation cultures. As a visiting researcher and professor, he has worked at the University of Chile (Santiago) and Waseda University (Tokyo). He studied psychology, philosophy and law in Berlin and Tübingen, and received his PhD in psychology from the University of Magdeburg.

Kiril Ivanov has completed a doctorate at the Centre for Sustainability Management at the Leuphana University Lüneburg, with a dissertation focused on values-based and sustainable innovation. As a researcher at the Media University of Applied Sciences, he has contributed to EU-funded research projects on gamification, values-based innovation cultures and strategic foresight for sustainability. He teaches courses in innovation and entrepreneurship, business anthropology and gamification for organisations, while also collaborating with UXBerlin – Innovation Consulting on projects involving ethnography and values-based business development.

"A must-read for executives who want to lead cultural transformation and make innovation truly sustainable."
Martin Curley, Professor of Innovation at Maynooth University, formerly Intel VP and Global Director of IT Innovation

"A practical, inspiring, and indispensable guide that puts culture where it belongs: at the center of sustainable innovation. It shows exactly how to build and sustain a thriving culture. A remarkable achievement."
Robert Edward Freeman, Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of the University of Virginia

"‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast,’ said Peter Drucker. OK, but what does that mean for the sustainability world? Sustainable Innovation Cultures is a timely, hands-on guide to culture change – spotlighting proven methods to help business leaders compete across the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental value."
John Elkington, co-founder of Environmental Data Services (ENDS), SustainAbility and Volans

"This book makes a compelling case that innovation is not a matter of technology alone, but of the cultures we build around it – cultures that hold ecological, social, and economic responsibility together. Sustainable Innovation Cultures is an inspiring call to treat innovation as a human practice, woven into the shared narratives and everyday life of organizations."
Christian Madsbjerg, co-founder of ReD Associates and Human Activity Research Laboratory

"Mindset shifts and new methods are not enough. We need to build an innovation culture with collaborative practices and actionable methods that turn the values at its heart into lasting impact. This book provides an excellent road map for doing so."
John Bessant, Emeritus Professor from the University of Exeter and Principal Research Fellow at Made4Impact

"A compelling call to recognize and activate innovation culture as a driver of sustainable development."
Stefan Schaltegger, founder and head of the Centre for Sustainability Management and professor of Sustainability Management at Leuphana University Lüneburg