Sustainable Innovation: 40 Sustainable Challenges

Vodafone and The Club for Excellence in Sustainability have presented the“Catalogue of Best Practices in Sustainable Innovation” at Vodafone Spain’s Headquarters. The Catalogue gathers 40 examples from public and private enterprises from Spain and Latin-America, from diverse industries, that “show how contributing to the solution of social and environmental challenges, they generate value for their own company, in processes defined as of sustainable innovation”.

This Catalogue presents a wide variety of sustainable innovation initiatives, segmented into two main sections:Innovation in Social Area and Innovation in Environment Area. Products and Services adapted to people with special needs or disabilities, proposals for boosting employment, labor inclusion of groups at social risk, new formulas for the production of clean energy, sustainable architecture or efficient water management are some of the topics that it considers, showing the tight relationship between corporate development and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

Andres Vicente, General Director of Enterprise Business Unit at Vodafone Spain, stated  “at Vodafone we consider necessary to spread the concept of Sustainable Innovation and to share best practices on it, as its implementation generates a wide range of benefits not only for the companies that develop it but also for the society as a whole”.

In words of José Longas President of The Club for Excellence in Sustainability “innovation has been and is a key driver for business and society growth. Sometimes it seems unimaginable that new products and services can be created or that new ideas may improve existing processes, but the truth is that continuous evolution makes change a never-failing source of opportunities”.

José Manuel Sedes, Sustainability and Quality Manager at Vodafone Spain and Project Director for the Catalogue, made special emphasis on the fact that “the society we live in faces many challenges, from the management of a world and cities where population is  continuously growing, to the management of demographic changes, natural resources, security, infrastructures, and the use of public spaces; and finally the improvement of quality of life for citizens and the reduction of environmental impacts. In this specific background, Sustainable Innovation becomes as a driver for economic, social and environmental development”.

Concepción Galdón, Manager of Area 31 of IE Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at IE Business School, closed the presentation highlighting that ”the future, and even most of the present, is being driven by organizations that are capable of doing what’s better following the logic of the market, while looking  for making a positive impact in society and the environment. Each and every best practice contained in this Catalogue is an example of the endless opportunities that sustainable innovation offers to those enterprises which really want to lead what’s left of the century”.

The Catalogue is already available online for free on the publication’s section in the website of The Club for Excellence in Sustainability. www.clubsostenibilidad.org