WBCSD releases report on innovations that could shape and transform 2020-2030

In Switzerland, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development released an issue brief outlining 5 business model shifts, 12 emerging technologies and 8 social innovations that could shape the next decade.

This issue brief is part of a series of interim outputs linked to WBCSD’s current refresh of its Vision 2050, a landmark 2010 report that laid out a pathway to a world in which nine billion people are able to live well, within planetary boundaries, by mid-century. WBCSD is working together with 40 of its member companies to update this work and again provide business with a common agenda for action over the decade to come.

Building on the insights of Zurich-based think tank W.I.R.E., this issue brief outlines 25 innovation areas, grouped into three types of innovations:

• 5 business model shifts – changes in key aspects of the contemporary approach of business-making (value creation, value delivery or value capturing);
• 12 emerging technologies – devices or processes originating from research developments or technical knowledge that could make an impact in markets or societies;
• 8 social innovations – ways of interacting that could alter social systems and overcome one or several challenges faced by society.