Sustainable Innovation Management

Sustainable Innovation Management provides a comprehensive framework for directing innovation processes toward achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, covering everything from idea generation to implementation across business, government, and civil society contexts.

This book equips readers with both theoretical knowledge and practical tools to drive sustainable innovation. By exploring proven innovation theories applied to SDG practice, it demonstrates how to transform intrinsically unsustainable production-consumption systems into circular and sustainable ones. The text offers structured approaches to innovation across companies, governments, and NGOs—both independently and through cross-sector collaborations. Through systematic analysis methods, readers will develop skills to address SDG challenges from an innovation perspective where individuals, organizations, and the environment interactively evolve toward greater sustainability. Balancing scientific rigor with practical application, the book presents the latest developments in the field alongside real-world case studies that demonstrate how innovation management translates bold ambitions into measurable outcomes for a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future.

This book is written for undergraduate and postgraduate students in Business Administration, Technical, and Engineering programs that focus on business and societal innovation, as well as professionals in startups, corporations, governments, and NGOs seeking to implement sustainable innovation.

Bart Bossink is a professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, leading a research group on breakthrough technology innovation. His research and expertise are new technology's social, societal, industrial, and economic applications. To this end, he combines deep insight into technological innovation and knowledge about the possibilities for use by people, organizations, and society. He published numerous scientific and professional books and articles, guiding and counselling thousands of students, professionals, and government officials in breakthrough tech innovation. He was an advisor to the Dutch government and currently is an advisor of the United Nations.

Sandra Hasanefendic is a professor in Breakthrough Tech Innovation at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and the Director of AIMMS (Amsterdam Institute for Molecular and Life Sciences), responsible for research valorization in the fields of Chemistry, A-Life, and Bioinformatics. With over a decade of research experience, she investigates R&D and technology upscaling processes for sustainability. Dr. Hasanefendic has published in leading journals and collaborates with startups, universities, and public institutions to translate innovation into real-world impact. She holds a double PhD from ISCTE-IUL in Lisbon and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.