Implementation of Sustainable Business Models in Technology-Dominant Innovation Projects: Embedding Sustainable Business Models in Business Processes

Technology is a driver for innovation, in economy as well as in research projects. The focus, in such projects, is often on technological and economic aspects only, whereas social and environmental aspects are only considered in a minimal way to comply with law. As a consequence, potential benefits are missed. Considering those aspects during research projects may open up new possibilities for solution design, resulting in additional benefits. Various frameworks to foster sustainable business model innovation exist. Frameworks supporting the transfer of sustainable business models to the implementation level (business process) in technology-dominant research projects are rare. It is not clear how and to which extend existing frameworks and tools do support the implementation of business models. Following research question arises: How to ensure and implement sustainability in technology-dominant innovation projects? This question is going to be answered by applying an argumentative deductive analysis in the problem space and is going to be validated in following project via case studies. Recent improvements in the area of additive manufacturing (AM) open up the possibilities to manufacture implants for patients directly in the clinic. Many stakeholders are involved and new tasks appear in establishing and finally integrating a new process chain in the daily operation of a healthcare provider. The expected contribution is to develop new or enhance existing frameworks to generate procedures that support the creation of sustainable business models in technology-dominant research projects and to ensure that those values, defined in the business model, are transferred to the business processes.