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The paradox of sustainable innovation: the ‘Eroom’ effect (Moore’s law backwards)

Hall, Jeremy; Matos, Stelvia; Gold, Stefan; Severino, Liv S.

Authors

Jeremy Hall

Stelvia Matos

Stefan Gold

Liv S. Severino



Abstract

Innovation has been widely acknowledged as a key mechanism for addressing sustainable development concerns. However, less attention has focused on downstream commercialization challenges such as achieving increasingly complex and stringent regulatory approval. Such challenges may hinder the development of more sustainable technologies, especially those coming from smaller or publically funded institutes. As well, they may obstruct the development of applications that could provide societal benefits, but may only have limited commercial viability due to small market niches or applicability to customers with limited financial means. We explore this apparent paradox using the concept of the Eroom effect (Moore’s Law backwards), i.e. where improved price performance due to technological advances are outweighed by increasing costs of regulatory approval and other commercialization costs. We illustrate this phenomenon with two cases of publically funded institutes, one developing transgenic cotton, and the other lignin transformation technology that can replace petroleum-based feedstocks in a number of industrial applications. We discuss the unintended consequences of the Eroom effect and conclude with implications for industry, policy and NGOs.

Citation

Hall, J., Matos, S., Gold, S., & Severino, L. S. (2018). The paradox of sustainable innovation: the ‘Eroom’ effect (Moore’s law backwards). Journal of Cleaner Production, 172, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.162

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 20, 2017
Online Publication Date Jul 24, 2017
Publication Date Jan 20, 2018
Deposit Date Oct 31, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Cleaner Production
Print ISSN 0959-6526
Electronic ISSN 1879-1786
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 172
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.07.162
Keywords Sustainable development innovation; New technology development; Regulatory approval; Transgenic technology; Lignin transformation technology
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/906152
Publisher URL http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652617316104?via%3Dihub

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