Sustainability assessment of innovation areas in Vinnväxt

Important results from the project

The goal was to design a framework of methods and processes to identify and evaluate innovations from a sustainability standpoint, in the short and long run. It should contain information, process descriptions and templates for practical work, available online, that help innovation environments to identify and exploit sustainability as an opportunity and driving force for innovation, and take into account the restriction sustainability aspects may constitute and finally to assess the long-term sustainability of innovations generated

Expected long term effects

The framework for sustainability assessment in innovation environments supports work at three levels; raise awareness of sustainability issues; identify strengths and weaknesses in the current operations; and identify opportunities and risks in the future. On a website there is support for innovation environments to perform actual work on the chosen level. The support consists of a detailed presentation of the framework, guidance on which parts are recommended to use for the level chosen. Furthermore, there are step-by-step instructions, checklists and templates.

Approach and implementation

The project has been conducted in an iterative process with literature studies and meetings / workshops with the pilots. We drafted a preliminary framework based literature studies of relevant existing methods. Pilots then gave feedback and we improved the framework based on this. Next, we tested parts of the framework in separate workshops with each pilot, which gave insights in which parts that needed further processing. Based on additional literature studies we clarified these parts. Finally, we have developed a website where the framework is made available.