“Values-based business models for sustainable value creation” is the title of the upcoming keynote at ABSRC conference in Ljubljana. Innovative companies with commitments to strong core values are also more successful economically in the long term than those driven by market opportunities. But how can we ensure that new products and services not only create added value by meeting short-term needs, but are also aligned with what different stakeholders such as company employees, customers, suppliers and societal stakeholders a better business models, and answers questions like: Why does a car have little to do with mobility? Why should we never need to buy another light bulb again? And how can small things make a big difference?

At the Africa-Europe Innovation Partnership (AEIP) we hold a webinar on ‘Sustainable Business Modelling for Cleantech’. Participants will learn to apply sustainable business model design patterns to an innovation challenge or a new business idea in the field of cleantech. Using an online collaboration platform they generate and prioritise ideas, how to advance the business model in a sustainability-oriented manner, and sketch and refine new business models.   Prof. Dr. Florian Lüdeke-Freund and Henning will conduct the session to address the following questions: • How to capitalise on the green and social values that motivate and guide green start-ups in delivering sustainable innovations? • How to support and nurture profitable and sustainability-oriented business model innovation in cleantech? • How to improve the sustainability profile of an existing business idea?   The Africa-Europe Innovation Partnership (AEIP) is organizing a virtual event, under the patronage of the South African Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation, as part of their annual Science Forum. The AEIP is an initiative of the African Union-European Union High Level Policy Dialogue, with funding from the EC, aiming to support and connect innovation and technology incubators, accelerators and technology transfer actors from both continents. It was launched by the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission in September 2019 in Nairobi (Kenya), to strengthen innovation cooperation between Africa and the EU.

Henning discussed some of the common misconcenptions of values and the potentials of a values-based approach to sustainability innovation with colleagues of the insitute for innovation and sustainability. Here you find the presentation slides (with headlines in German).

Values-based and sustainable innovation kick-off, presentations on human values in design and the lab-of-tomorrow, a panel discussion with Roman-Meier Andrae, Corie Wiren, Matthias Rauterberg, Sven Uwe Müller and Stefan Schaltegger, and The Road to ISPIM Berlin 2021 – from coping with the current crisis to caring for our common future - all video recordings from our new Special Interest Group on Values-Based and Sustainable Innovation at ISPIM Virtual 2020 are now online.

In this webinar in collaboration with CreativeLabs, Henning introduces the values-based innovation management framework and presents unique facilitation methods. Learn how to generate ethnographic customer insights to drive product and service innovation, how to model values-based business and how to review business policies to drive innovation. Each approach is exemplified with selected cases from UXBerlin consulting projects.

Now online: The webinar on the use of remote games to foster innovation by Sune Gudiksen, Henning Breuer and Kiril Ivanov. "Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow" (William Pollard, 1828-1893). In the last few weeks, this statement has gained additional importance. The current circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic have not only forced numerous businesses to rapidly and effectively adopt a remote mindset, but have also confronted them with accompanying challenges for individuals and teams. How can companies ensure that innovative ideas of its stakeholders can be managed appropriately without face-to-face interaction? How can they rapidly align and constantly renew their portfolio in order to withstand economic pressure during the crisis and in the future?     The webinar gives insights into the opportunities and usage of remote games that foster innovation. It provides guidelines on how to drive innovation through remote games in times of crisis. What can you expect to take away from the webinar?

Featuring an introductory video, an initial webinar and further activities and materials coming up, our SIG on values-based and sustainable innovation is up and running. We are inviting innovation managers, entrepreneurs, researchers and consultants to join.

Our latest Webinar on Values-Based Innovation Management: Concepts, Methods and Applications (by Prof. Dr. Henning Breuer & Prof. Dr. Florian Lüdeke-Freund) is now online.   The Webinar introduces the basic concepts, exemplary methods and practical applications of values-based innovation management. We show why innovation cannot be sufficiently understood and appropriately managed without addressing different stakeholder values. We explain the heuristic, directive and integrative function of values, and demonstrate their potential to drive innovation on different management levels. Through three recent consulting projects we illustrate applied methods to work with values on different management level:   - How to apply ethnographic research on customer values to frame and conduct ideation (operative management example from the digital economy). - How to model sustainability-oriented business based on a review of stakeholder values (strategic management example from workshops in the energy sector). - How to trigger innovation through redefining business vision, mission and purpose based on employee values (normative management example from the cleaning service industry).   Participants are invited to contribute their own experiences and examples and to propose new challenges that might be addressed with a values-based approach.

We opened up the International Conference on New Business Models with an introductory note (here the video) and a dive-in to a key topic of present-day’s innovation and entrepreneurship discourse: How can we develop viable businesses based on what we really care about?   We respond to this hot issue by presenting the values-based approach to innovation management. Understood as notions of the desirable, values provide a powerful lever for the companies that aspire to do well while doing good. Values can spur innovation in numerous ways, in order to set ambitious visions or to establish a common ground for partnerships, or to understand customer concerns in ways that are more fundamental.   Moreover, as we are moving from a single bottom line to a triple bottom line (of planet, people and profit) to measure business performance, and on to 17 Sustainable Development Goals to strive for, we need to recur to our values in order to interpret and to prioritize these global goals into unique business goals.   In a fishbowl discussion, two industry leaders will share their experiences with, challenges from, and measures to address values in innovation management and sustainable innovation:

"Developing Sustainable Business Models: Values-Based Business Model Innovation" is the title of the compact training course that we are offering again this year at the Center for Sustainable Business Development (CSM). Participants will learn to apply the guiding principle of sustainable development and values-based innovation to the review and development of new business models.