Innovation, Investing, and Sustainability

This SFI ACtioN Event, co-hosted with Putnam Investments, will focus on themes of innovation, investing, and sustainability:

• What challenges are posed when operating across different timescales, like the ones between climate and earth systems, financial systems and economies, and innovation and business model development?
• How can a better understanding of innovation deployment enhance our designs and decisions?  For example, in what ways does scaling innovation within established systems require different attributes than disruptive invention outside of those systems?
• How can improved use of financial tools create better alignment between effective innovation and positive financial, environmental, and social outcomes?

This meeting will explore insights from complexity science as a foundation for developing more effective sustainability solutions and identifying more effective forms of investment. For example, investigating the different time scales of climate science, economies, and finance can identify opportunities for more aligned policy and analysis. Understanding innovation within asset-intensive systems like power generation can illuminate potential for higher impact innovation and scaling of solutions. Exploring what complexity economics adds to our understanding of how economies work offers better ways to test ideas and make predictions. Assessing the full range of financial structures that can be used to deploy innovation can better match the form and function of related investments. More complete understanding of these concepts can dramatically improve investment decision making.