Innovation ecology: Why do we need to develop holistic innovation?

In Unit 2 you learned that the three types of innovation are process, product and institutional. We will refer to those terms again in this unit. You also learned that a fourth type of innovation, service innovation, refers to improving the process of making products available or improving the quality of products.

Any category of innovation that is implemented in response to climate change must have some elements of all six of the characteristics listed below:

1. The innovation must improve the monthly incomes of villagers and householders who are affected by climate change.
2. The innovation must be environmentally friendly — that is, it does not have any negative effects on the surrounding air, water, soil conditions and biodiversity. The quality of the air, water, soil and biodiversity, including natural resources, must not deteriorate or be depleted as a result of the innovation that is implemented.
3. The innovation must be socially and culturally accepted by the villagers and by the government agencies that have jurisdiction over the village or households.
4. There must be transparency — that is, all the relevant information shared and decisions made during official government meetings must be shared with all the parties who are involved during local or village meetings.
5. A deep sense of accountability must be instilled in the people who are implementing the innovation and the parties that have agreed to develop the idea behind the innovation — that is, if the innovation does not work, if must be clear who will take responsibility and be answerable to the failure or ineffectiveness of the innovation.
6.  The innovation must support gender equality and social equality — that is, everyone will have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities to access and benefit from the implementation of the innovation, regardless of whether they are male or female or from a rural or urban setting.

A holistic approach to implementing innovations in response to climate change must also account for social context, also known as the social pillar. “Social pillar” refers to greater social and cultural acceptance with regard to implementing the innovation. A researcher named P. James introduced the social pillar aspect to define ecologically sound innovations in terms of how the innovation is used, rather than in terms of being a product.

Adapted from Eco-innovation. (2023, 25 November). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-innovation

Licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0

A new idea or new economic activity that leads to an innovation that is identified and agreed upon at the village level should be holistic — that is, all three pillars of sustainability are taken into consideration (i.e., social, economic and environment). The innovation must be efficient, the resources it uses must be used in a responsible manner and the innovation must lead to higher incomes for the villagers. The innovation should reduce stress on the environment but community opinion and responsiveness should be demonstrated. The social sustainability pillar ensures that the innovation includes better health and safety aspects, pays fair and equal wages for men and women/boys and girls and helps to create liveable communities that can sustain themselves.

Adapted from James, P. (1997). The sustainability cycle: A new tool for product development and design. Journal of Sustainable Product Design, 2, 52-57. https://cfsd.org.uk/journal/archive/index.html