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Managing Cross-Industry Innovations: A Search Strategy for Radical Eco-innovations

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Eco-Innovation and the Development of Business Models

Part of the book series: Greening of Industry Networks Studies ((GINS,volume 2))

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Abstract

Companies can enhance their internal knowledge and develop innovations by working together with external partners from their own value chain. Besides this common open innovation strategy, the cooperation with partners from distant industries is becoming ever more important for companies as this concept can be a significant source for radical eco-innovations. These cross-industry innovations (CII) can lead to lower development time, lower project risks, and higher growth rates and margins owing to the discovery of radical innovations. We have found that due to a lack of existing process models and methods, companies implement cross-industry innovation strategies – in the most part – unsystematically and that the TRIZ database approach, the knowledge broker approach, and a creativity workshop with external experts and lead users are the most appropriate methods to creating cross-industry eco-innovations. The contribution of this chapter is, firstly, to analyze why the cross-industry innovation framework can have significant influence on the creation of radical eco-innovations and, secondly, to present a step-by-step process which should help companies – and especially innovation managers – to systematically implement eco-innovations across industries in the fuzzy front end of the innovation process.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For example, eco-products in the area of air pollution prevention, water quality control, material recycling and energy efficiency improvements are well established and have reached advanced technological levels.

  2. 2.

    For example, Brunswicker and Hutschek (2010).

  3. 3.

    The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines LCA (life cycle assessment) as a “compilation and evaluation of inputs, outputs, and the potential environmental impacts of a product throughout its life cycle” (ISO 14040 2006).

  4. 4.

    An example for contradictions is a zero waste emission process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Management in Companies and Regions, Johannes Kepler University, Altenbergerstrasse 69, A-4040, Linz, Austria

    Michaela Kloiber & Reinhold Priewasser

Authors
  1. Michaela Kloiber
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  2. Reinhold Priewasser
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michaela Kloiber .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Economics, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

    Susana Garrido Azevedo

  2. Supply Chain Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

    Marcus Brandenburg

  3. UNIDEMI, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Helena Carvalho

  4. UNIDEMI, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Virgílio Cruz-Machado

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Kloiber, M., Priewasser, R. (2014). Managing Cross-Industry Innovations: A Search Strategy for Radical Eco-innovations. In: Azevedo, S., Brandenburg, M., Carvalho, H., Cruz-Machado, V. (eds) Eco-Innovation and the Development of Business Models. Greening of Industry Networks Studies, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05077-5_2

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