Innovation and Sustainability

It is the generally acknowledged by academics, business experts, and policy leaders that innovation is an essential driver of sustainability. This can be attributed to the urgent need for effective intervention and reforms by the government, business, and humanity as a whole toward sustainable development. This chapter conceptualizes the ongoing innovation literature in both the academic field and practitioners’ cases with the aim of providing a concise framework of four current innovation forms, namely, the traditional innovation, eco-innovation, social innovation, and the emerging sustainable innovation. This chapter offers a review of relevant literature and real examples focused on the core innovation-related topics and a range of suggestions for the potential advancement of sustainable innovation.