Is this system eco-innovative? A case-based workshop
Year: 2017
Editor: Anja Maier, Stanko Škec, Harrison Kim, Michael Kokkolaras, Josef Oehmen, Georges Fadel, Filippo Salustri, Mike Van der Loos
Author: Vallet, Flore; Tyl, Benjamin; Pialot, Olivier; Millet, Dominique
Series: ICED
Institution: 1: CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay, France; 2: IRT SystemX, Université Paris-Saclay, France; 3: APESA, France; 4: Seatech USTV, France; 5: LISMMA Seatech USTV, France
Section: Resource Sensitive Design, Design Research Applications and Case Studies
Page(s): 111-120
ISBN: 978-1-904670-89-6
ISSN: 2220-4342
Abstract
Eco-innovation is a challenging topic for companies that are expected to promote the design of products and services for a sustainable society. Early phases of eco-innovation processes and more specifically eco-ideation (the generation phase of promising ideas) still needs efficient supportive methods. This paper empirically challenges a previous proposition of eight eco-ideation stimulation mechanisms (ESMs) thanks to a case-based activity. An explorative workshop on the examination of 16 supposed eco-innovative cases was conducted with four groups of 30 environmental experts. One objective of this workshop for participants was to define, individually and collectively, a way to label eco-innovation cases. This paper presents (1) the selection and characterization of top and flop cases in groups (2) an inductive characterization of eco-innovation regarding cases (3). This arises new perspectives for eco-innovation practice, for instance the consideration of systemic and mass effects.
Keywords: Innovation, Case study, Ecodesign, Sustainability, Small scale experiment