Donia Trabelsi, Associate professor in Finance at Institut Mines-Télécom Business School (IMT Business School), Marie Carpenter, Professor of Strategy and Director of the Management, Marketing and Strategy Department at IMT Business School, and Wadid Lamine have published an article in the Journal of Innovation Economics & Management 2023/2 (No. 41) on “The Primacy of Innovation in the Development of Responsible and Sustainable Finance”.
This article emphasizes the importance of innovation in addressing social and environmental challenges in the 21st century. It acknowledges that the innovation process for sustainable development is complex, dynamic, and uncertain, requiring both incremental and radical changes in various aspects of society.
Addressing the climate change emergency
The article mentions that current efforts to address the climate change emergency are deemed insufficient, leading to calls for more ambitious action. The Covid-19 pandemic has also exacerbated inequalities both between and within countries.
Accelerating Research on Sustainable Development Dynamics and Innovation
Professors and Researchers such as Donia Trabelsi and Marie Carpenter from IMT Business School emphasize that, some US states have enacted laws penalizing financial institutions that prioritize environmental, social, and governance factors in their investment decisions. These trends indicate a more dystopian direction than anticipated when the Call for Papers for this Special Issue was released in 2020.
In response, the authors argue for accelerated research efforts to understand the dynamics of sustainable development, with a specific focus on the role of innovation. They suggest that research should explore reconciling traditional approaches with more appropriate trade-offs or embrace more radical changes, incorporating elements of “creative destruction” inherent in the innovation process within a capitalist system.
Exploring the Nexus of Technology, Sustainability, and Ethics: Unveiling the Complexities of the Innovation Process and Environmental Outcomes
The article highlights research showing how the adoption of new technologies can contribute to improved environmental outcomes and enhance firms competitiveness through sustainable strategies. However, it questions whether the innovation process itself automatically directs these efforts for the benefit of society. Ethical debates arise around the use of artificial intelligence and the ethical application of the increasing amount of data collected in the digital age. The practical implementation of sustainable resource management and the potential pitfalls in significant transformations, such as the circular economy model, are also discussed.
Unraveling the Complexities: Technology, Sustainability, Ethics, and the Innovation Process for Environmental Outcomes
Regarding finance, the article mention the contrasting impacts of the innovation process, with positive effects such as mobile banking improving economic development in emerging economies, but also negative consequences revealed by the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The emergence of new financial products, services, and platforms facilitated by digital technologies is recognized, but the complexity and ambiguity of their outcomes persist. The risks of fraud and negative impacts on ordinary individuals due to the fintech explosion are acknowledged, prompting calls for improved financial literacy and responsible practices within the fintech industry.
