Driving Innovation

Traditionally, environmental compliance and social welfare expenditures have been viewed as costs that correlate negatively with returns. However, recent studies suggest that there are several opportunities for competitive advantage and increased profits to be gained by strategic sustainability initiatives (Reinhardt, 1999). 

In other words, regulation and market pressures have helped spark innovations that have eventually improved process efficiencies, tapped new markets, streamlined production and materials use, and led to many other benefits beyond reduced pollution.18 For example, Fortune 500 company Ashland thinks of their hazardous waste management program not as a necessary evil, but as a value-added customer service. Ashland Distribution Company offers a one-source, closed-loop process to not 

18A debate against Porter s claim of the innovation-stimulating effect of regulation casts doubt on the assumption that regulation would offer the possibility of a free lunch, in part because there is considerable doubt as to whether regulators would know more about these better methods of production than firm managers. For this reference and an extended discussion, please see Jaffe et al., (1995). 

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Eliminating chemicals of concern can lead a company to become more proactive by creating demand for greener alternatives and by positively defining chemicals. While it may appear at first to be restrictive in terms of disallowing chemicals, in practice it tends to drive innovation and lead to the development of new chemicals and products - part of what makes green chemistry so attractive to people of widely divergent views. 

A common position statement issued on 25 October 2004, by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK s Chemicals Industry Association (CIA) and Greenpeace recognises the ability of a strong REACH regulation to drive innovation "Weshare the view that a requirement within the authorisation procedure... 

In fact, regulatory drivers are often seen as instrumental in spurring innovation. An assessment by a major aerospace manufacturer of what drives innovation towards safer processes for hazardous waste streams revealed that The regulatory drivers for waste reduction are familiar to most by now, and may be summarised into three categories of legislation 1) inventory reporting, 2) emission reporting, and 3) employee exposure levels. Anticipation of future restrictions was a decisive factor in this project. ... 

Weshare the view that a requirement within the authorisation procedure to substitute substances of very high concern if an acceptable alternative that does not fall into the very high concern category is available has the potential to drive innovation to the benefit of business, human health and the environment. However, to be effective, substitution will require commitment from the total supply chain, not just from producers. 

It is too presumptuous to recommend that the promotion of competition should be introduced as one of the most important measures to drive innovation. Competition is a decisive motor, but it tends only to increases the pressure and cannot always improve the ca-pabihty for innovation at the same time. In some cases, havens appear to be important for the development of innovation. It is no coincidence that the application areas of the military, medicine and sport are highly significant areas for technical innovation. In these areas, the cost push tends to be secondary with the result that technical effectiveness can be concentrated on fully, at least for some of the time. The concept of regulatory induced initially limited lead markets for environmentally friendly innovations also refers to such learning areas where new ideas and concepts can develop first of all (cf on this latter subject e.g. Beise, Reimings 2003). 

Customer wishes and management systems as forces to drive innovation... 

The setting up of this Commission clearly reflects awareness that the current system for driving innovation requires serious examination and that new proposals for national and international action are urgently needed. 

Many exciting new discoveries will be at the interfaces between disciplines. To work at the interface we need to be able to facilitate interactions and understand how to talk to our colleagues. Physicists, biologists, and chemists don t necessarily talk the same language. We need to learn how to communicate with each other effectively in order to be able to drive innovation in the future. 

Prodrugs definitely will lead the way in novel delivery systems addressing the need for precise targeting and efficient delivery of cancer chemotherapeutics. The understanding of cellular mechanisms and continued advances in nanotechnology, material science, and engineering will continue to drive innovation in this field. 

In this era of international cooperation, there is a need for progressive national policies as well. Successful national policies will eventually influence the EU and international policies. In the EU chemicals policy, there is a drive toward harmonized legal standards. This means that the EU Member States are restricted in their national lawmaking, and should therefore rely also on other instruments, such as procurement policies, in order to drive innovations and promote chemical substitution. 

Substituting substances of very high concern with chemicals of lesser concern and driving innovation in safer chemicals as substitutes. 

The top four levels in Table 4.6 represent opportunities that can be significantly larger than those represented by the bottom two. These opportunities can drive innovation and top-line growth based on solutions that integrate financial and societal performance. 

DuPont s commitment to sustainable development begins with a strong leadership commitment to stay the course through economic cycles, to set stretch goals for each decade and to drive innovation. Specific 2010 goals for energy are to... 

Late in the 1980s the basics of electronic mail service were also in use. This was probably the most important step in the application of networking to drive innovation prior to the introduction of the World Wide Web technology. 

Ernst, C., Chrobot-Mason, D. (2011). Boundary-spanning leadership Six practices for solving problems, driving innovation, and transforming organizations. New York McGraw-Hill. 

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