Batten Briefing: Innovating for Sustainability

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business Batten Institute for Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has published its latest Batten Briefing report — a look at the opportunities and challenges facing efforts to develop sustainability-enhancing innovations. The insights were developed during Batten’s Global Innovator’s Roundtable held in Singapore in late 2016.

Read the introduction to the report below and view the full Batten Briefing here.

There is no question the current sustainability crisis — from climate change to resource depletion — requires that the world transition to a low-carbon, environmentally friendly economy. The question is how to do this quickly.

If you ask Darden Professor Michael J. Lenox, “We need substantial innovations across many sectors and technologies if we are to address our mounting environmental concerns. Business leaders have to play a central role in fostering these innovations.” To explore the opportunities and limitations of innovating our way to sustainability, Lenox recently led a discussion at the fall 2016 Global Innovators’ Roundtable in Singapore. Hosted by Darden’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Temasek Management Services’ TMS Academy, the roundtable brought together senior leaders from such innovative companies as Singapore Airlines, Temasek International, PSA International, and MAS Holdings.

This Batten Briefing examines the growing threat of climate change to the global economy. It also explores the role of business in climate-change mitigation and argues that companies face the innovation imperative to develop environmentally friendly and economically feasible solutions. And last but not least, it looks at the business benefits and barriers to innovating for sustainability.

Continue reading the latest Batten Briefing, “Innovating for Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities.”