An overview of the changing environment of communities for the innovation of smart and sustainable products in SMEs

With a focus on servitization and sustainability, the rise of Sustainable and Smart Products (SSP) provides a fresh approach to creating innovative products. When it comes to innovation for sustainability in this setting, businesses have significant challenges as SSPs become more complex. The adoption of ecosystem-based co-innovation in lieu of conventional organization-based methods of innovation strategy is thus imperative. Through the effective sharing of resources and expertise across organizations, innovation ecosystems provide a feasible paradigm for augmenting SSP innovation. It is remarkable that despite independent examinations into both SSP and innovation ecosystems, their confluence has yet to be thoroughly examined. To explain the dynamics of ecosystem-based SSP innovation and improve innovation performance and sustainability outcomes, this study aims to close this gap by undertaking extensive research on SSP Innovation Ecosystems (SSPIE). Examining SSPIE's history, definition, and salient features, the article clarifies what makes it stand out in the rapidly changing market for smart and sustainable goods. This study contributes substantially to the rapidly developing subject of SSPIE by identifying current research gaps and providing insightful advice on addressing the difficulties involved in SSP innovation.