Sustainable innovations with natural zeolite-based technologies

Innovation in favor of sustainability can facilitate the introduction of green disruptive practices and boost the economic growth of organizations, which will be focused on the development and commercialization of technologies, which will be part of the economy of tomorrow[۱].By treating sustainability as a corporate objective, an important catalyst for innovation processes is created.Organizations, when developing products and services, considering sustainability, can question the logic dominantly present in business, its forms of consumption and use, and thus, find new ways to capture and deliver value. In a complementary way, meeting sustainable demands can change the way of competing in the market. Sustainability can transform the competitive scenario, and forces companies to change the way they think about products, technologies, processes and business models. This research used the framework of Hart and Milstein[۲] to map drivers for sustainability-oriented innovation. The information was obtained through interviews with technical experts in the natural zeolite sector from several continents.According to the technical experts interviewees, the main sustainability problem is related to combating the environmental footprint, not only in the zeolite sector, but also in other segments of the economy. As a practice to address this issue, the opinions of the experts considered the adherence of zeolites to environmental applications, when suggesting that innovation has this bias, whether it is conducted internally in organizations or outsourced. As a result of these practices, which aim to mitigate the environmental footprint, the company can generate value by its recognition in innovation, in addition to enabling the entry of revenues from products not previously sold.Finally, looking for the human society future challenges, the main sustainability problem refers to factors that satisfy human needs, especially in disadvantaged countries. To address this issue, practices were suggested for the development of products that support these needs, such as access to clean water, basic sanitation or food production. In addition, it was also suggested that companies prospect reserves in emerging territories and, in this way, create an ecosystem that allows not only to meet local needs, but also allows more people to enter the formal economy. As a result of these practices, companies can reap results in the generation of sustainable value, considering the possibility of increasing the organization's revenues, through operations in businesses that seek to meet the needs of social, environmental and disadvantaged markets.

کلیدواژه ها:

innovation ، sustainability ، natural zeolites