Eco-ideation process for environmentally-driven research projects and road-mapping in an RTO

Research and technology organisations (RTOs) innovate to support the development of new technologies and socio-technical systems for the sustainability transition. They have integrated sustainability assessment through life cycle assessment during the course of their research projects for several years. Once implemented, these projects contribute to the development of future innovations, or eco-innovations if sustainable. These may later be further eco-designed and sold by industrials. However, sustainability integration for RTOs also requires a by-design approach during the emergence of ideas and before research projects are developed. To influence RTOs technological roadmaps before designing future eco-innovative research projects, an eco-ideation process is needed. In this paper, we investigate the outcomes of the integration of environmental consideration in the creativity process linked to road-mapping activities of an RTO. The tests show a variety of outcomes usually generated with conventional creativity process, such as new projects or roadmaps. The results demonstrate that a significant percentage are designed to integrate environmentally-driven considerations and ideas.