The importance of innovation

Over time, with the development of all forms of organization in society and all the goods and services we consume, it is possible to say that innovation plays an important role in the world.

Innovation enables the development and creation of something new and is an important concept for companies, the environment and society. But how important is innovation? And, above all, what is its importance for the environment?

The role of innovation on the planet

Innovation plays a relevant role in changing companies and the environment as it is one of their competitive factors. This is because globalization and the increase in the supply of products and services from various companies make differentiation essential.

According to Paula Correira , quoting Caron, “(…) the basic preconditions for innovation in companies are based on technological progress.” This reveals the importance of new technologies for innovation and for greater environmental awareness.

For this environmental awareness to exist, there must be a correlation between:

• Encouraging innovation
• Knowledge
• Management capacity

According to the Harvard Business Review , the key to progress is innovation and sustainability, which will provide a competitive advantage for companies as it will always be part of development.

Importance of innovation in sustainable development

With climate change, companies that invest in innovation to address this issue can differentiate themselves in society, as they allow a balance between economic growth and ensuring that current and future needs are met.

At this point, Social Responsibility takes on relevance since it is considered, by the European Commission in its Green Paper, as “(…) the voluntary integration of social and environmental concerns by companies in their operations and in their interaction with other interested parties.”

This integration not only allows for a change in behavior that is favorable to the company and society in general, but also allows for the transmission of a good opinion and reputation about the company.

Thus, according to Luis Teixeira , it is necessary to take into account the economic, social and environmental levels in the innovation process because “only in this way will it be possible to achieve sustainable development, understood as that which meets the needs of contemporary generations without putting the needs of future generations at risk.”

Organizations can differentiate themselves through sustainable innovation in terms of economic and social development. According to Charter & Clark, cited by Luis Teixeira, sustainable innovation can be defined as “(…) a process where sustainability considerations (environmental, social and financial) are integrated into the company’s systems from idea generation to research and development (R&D) and commercialization.”

As we have already seen in the article on the importance of sustainable development, innovation is present in one of the points of the sustainable development objectives: point 9 “Industry, innovation and infrastructure”.

Among the various points, it is possible to highlight several general objectives: economic development, sustainable modernization and industrialization, scientific research, innovation and technological development.

The importance of innovation becomes clear when one of the objectives of point 9 focuses on “supporting domestic technological development, research and innovation in developing countries, including by ensuring a policy environment conducive to, among other things, industrial diversification and value addition to raw materials.”

EcoX Pro: a step towards innovation

Taking advantage of innovation in technology and science, EcoX has developed a formula that allows us to avoid removing raw materials from the environment to produce new products. In fact, instead of removing them, it gives new life to waste produced by people and companies.

The transformation of used cooking oil into ecological detergents is based on an innovative technology that solves two problems:

• Eliminates waste that has an environmental impact
• Allows the supply of cleaning products

The project thus arises from a need to combine various sectors on the path to sustainable development through innovation and differentiation of behaviors and knowledge.

This program is based on the circular economy which, according to the European Commission, means giving priority to a model that uses processes that restore or renew sources of energy and materials, avoiding waste as much as possible.

This model requires new production processes as well as new technologies and innovation.