Many public and private parties wish to make a contribution
to a more sustainable society by setting up all kinds of cool projects, implementing
innovative technologies and systems. However setting up and managing an
innovative project may prove very complex. At the one hand guaranteeing
financial viability and at the same time ensuring to contribute to sustainable
development and making a real lasting impact may prove a challenge.
In order for sustainable innovation projects to be
successful there are some prerequisites. First of all it is important to have
an understanding of how the innovation will fit in conventional systems, models
and institutions. An overview of the
project in comparison to conventional technologies, markets and believes will indicate
the opportunities and barriers the innovation may encounter.
A simple example comes from our experience in Argentina. The
project resolved around the building of a school completely relying on its own
renewable energy supply. Furthermore the building was based on bioclimatic
architecture. At first renewable energy, like solar panels, seemed to face a
no-go market in Argentina because of the heavily subsidized fossil fuels.
However in the relative distant rural area where the school was being build the
majority of people live on big farms without grid-connection. People depend on
big fossil fuel fired generator for their energy supply. Due to the noise and
smell of these generators and the annoying time consuming effort of getting
fuel from the nearest town, there is actually an opportunity for solar panels
in these areas. The school will well serve as an demonstration project for
solar panels in these distant areas.
The bio-climatic building proposed for the school may prove
more difficult to be adopted. The conventional contractors are not yet familiar
with the technology, there are no proper certification systems that suit the
Argentinean market, there are no government incentives for more sustainable
building by requiring certain standards, and people may still be reluctant
towards adopting this way of building since they are not familiar with it.
However there is always need for entrepreneurial champions
willing to invest in sustainable alternatives and first movers willing to adopt
them. Wider adoption of innovations is usually a gradual process and as a
project manager you will face many barriers on your road to achieving your
sustainability goals.
There are some factors to be taken into account by
projectmanagers that can improve the possibility for innovations to be adopted
and cause wider change. First of all it is important to have a shared project vision,
mission and objectives. It is very important to align expectations between the involved
stakeholders to provide guidance. But also beyond the project there may be
experiments and projects related to similar innovations that can be learned
from by sharing expectations with stakeholders from these projects and organizing
into networks to share lessons between projects.
Another key issue for innovation projects is to generate user
acceptance. Involving users in an early phase, being transparent and allowing
for feedback contributes to users trust, both trust in the project developers
and in the technology. The trust generated by proper user involvement and an
open attitude may prove crucial for the acceptance and adoption of the
technology.
To allow for adaptation in status quo systems and
institutions it is important to involve influential persons from within these
status quo systems and institutions. Involving and informing already interested
first movers from industry takes away skepticism. If these people are
influential within their organizations they may contributes to wider acceptance
and enthusiasm for the innovation. This may then lead to further adoption,
investments, or development of the innovations. The same accounts for
influential policy-makers that may prove valuable to lobby for adaptations in
the policy realm and respected public persons, media channels and ambassadors
may prove important to gain broader societal acceptance.
VERDUR assists projectmanagers in understanding the
opportunities and barriers for innovation projects in their context of
implementation by making comparative analysis between projects and status quo
institutions. Furthermore VERDUR gives recommendations to projectmanagers
regarding their network, the sharing of expectations and the organization of
learning processes.
