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Innovation Summit Ambition and 4-pillar innovation model

SBD’s ambition is to be “a premier innovation district in Europe”.

The district already hosts a large number of major international and regional corporations, and a host of local innovative SMEs. It is a significant potential force of innovation at a national level, so such an aspiration is a logical next phase of development. Following a number of discussions and events on the topic of innovation over past years, our commitment now is to take the necessary steps to develop and implement a plan that will shift the agenda to that of being ‘premier’; and to ensure that key stakeholders are involved in that process.

In November, the 2024 SBD Innovation Summit will be held, and this presents the opportunity to clearly set the level of ambition, and strengthen the commitment to, and content of, a plan.

Innovation is an oft-used word, however with very mixed understanding of what it truly means, and what it takes to deliver. That we need to innovate – given the challenges that society faces – is not really in question (though also all too often we let our eyes drop from the horizon to daily chores). How we go about innovating is really the contemporary question.

To support our understanding of innovation and provide a framework for action, SBD has adopted a comprehensive systemic 4-pillar innovation model, which addresses:

(i) Framework Conditions – the contextual foundations that support innovation

(ii) Network Enablement – focusing on collaboration between stakeholders to enable the creation of novel ideas and solutions, and exploiting the power of digitalisation to make that most efficient and effective

(iii) Innovation in Action – the physical hubs and human capital to set these ideas into motion

(iv) Sustaining Value – understanding how value can be sustained over the long term

We have assessed our current state, and what we need to do collectively to step-up to our aspirations by applying the model and its various components to review strengths and opportunities as an initial feed into the first day of the upcoming Summit.

As part of that process, we have also identified four mutually re-enforcing themes that provide contemporary and very relevant substance to tackle in Sandyford. These themes are:

1) Circularity – how we will limit resource consumption and maximise the use of assets and services in a fair and sustainable manner

2) Mobility Transition – how we will lead the shift from reliance on individual cars to shared clean mobility

3) Social Innovation – how we will build a culture of and approach to innovation that is rooted in community involvement

4) Digital Transformation – how we will ethically, competently, and safely exploit the power of data and modern technologies to underpin all we do