Collective innovation for the biobased transition

This project builds on the project From Award to Impact recently completed. The starting point of that research was the question of how the creative industry can make an effective contribution to accelerating the materials transition. To that end, the social impact of designers of biobased materials and products was examined: products made from regrowable, often plant-based materials as opposed to fossil, non-renewable materials. This impact turned out to be much lower than hoped and desired.

Previous research has made it clear that the desired transition to a sustainable society cannot be left solely to the market or market thinking. This is supported by scientific literature. Moreover, market thinking also hinders the effective deployment of the creative industry in these transitions. This is problematic because advancing climate change requires precisely an acceleration of the materials transition. And on the other hand, a broad-based motivation for these current issues is noticeable in the creative industry.

A shift of focus
In the current phase of the transition, it is important to shift focus: away from innovation as a sum of separate, individual initiatives ("let a thousand flowers bloom") and toward larger-scale, mission-driven innovation. In this form of innovation, success - and thus scale - is measured by its impact on the three collective societal missions.

By definition, mission-driven innovation addresses complex, regional, national or global issues that can only be effectively addressed when approached on a larger scale. This research therefore focuses on developing an effective approach to collective innovation within the context of biobased design and materials transition.

There will be €94,865 as PPP program funding.