Sustainable Digital Innovation – Preconditions and Methods of Integrating Sustainability Aspects into Digitalization

Abstract

Sustainability and digitalization have nowadays become core aspects of entrepreneurial actions. In a post-COVID world sustainable solution will be encouraged by incentives and regulations. If businesses want to survive on the market as a progressive company in the long term, they are almost forced to be digitally innovative. Therefore, during the pandemic, many businesses have enforced their investments in sustainable solutions. However, digital innovation activities can only be promising in the long term if they consider sustainable developments and are therefore "sustainable" themselves. Thus, digital innovation and sustainability, in context of entrepreneurial activities and business decisions requires a special approach. As sustainable digital innovation changes the way we are doing business now and in the future, we have gone through contextual settings and how perceived changes will affect businesses, but our approach has been to address the market opportunities. Sustainable digital innovation enables industry to take advantage of opportunities that sustainability concerns bring. Changes in the business environment asks for new solutions and new business approaches. The potential of digital technologies can help business leaders think about managing and re-defining/innovate company's roles in their business ecosystems. As the market changes and customers and society search for more sustainable solutions new sustainable opportunities arise as we are witnessing dematerialization, servicification and digitalization.