Business-led Innovation and the SDGs: Trends, Drivers and Opportunities

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BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
1
ANDY HALL
JENNIFER KELLY
15 MARCH 2017
BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION
AND THE SDGs
TRENDS, DRIVERS AND OPPORTUNITIES
CSIRO AGRICULTURE AND FOOD & GLOBAL INITIATIVES WWW.CSIRO.AU

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List of Acronyms
CSIRO - Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
FB&A - Food, Beverage and Agriculture Sector
MSME - Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
R&D - Research and Development
RBF - Responsible Business Forum
SME - Small and Medium-size Enterprises
SDG - Sustainable Development Goals

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List of Acronyms 2
Introduction 4
Headline messages 4
Innovation for the SDGs: Drivers, enablers and bottlenecks 5
What is innovation? 5
What does innovation look like and where does it come from? 6
What prevents opportunities becoming realities? 7
What did the survey tell us? 9
Main patterns and trends 9
Opportunities 11
Reflections and information gaps 12
Annex 1: Survey results 14
Section 1: Who was surveyed? 14
Section 2. Business activity alignment to SDGs 15
Section 3: SDG Innovation Triggers and Drivers 16
Section 4: Sources of innovation support and expertise 18
Section 5: Current SDG Initiatives 18
Section 6: Innovation and your current SDG Initiatives 20
Section 7: Unrealised SDG innovation opportunities & challenges 21
Annex 2: Roundtable discussion summary 26
Contents

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Introduction
At the end of 2016, CSIRO and Global Initiatives conducted an e-survey of businesses and their
partners in Southeast Asia that explored business perspectives on innovation and the SDGs. The
survey asked:
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The purpose of the study was to try and get a snapshot of broad patterns and trends, identify
emerging issues that warrant further investigation and, more importantly, use these initial findings
to start a wider discussion on business-led innovation and the SDGs, and the pathway for
accelerating this.
The survey was sent out to all members of Global Initiatives Responsible Business Forum (RBF)
Network in November 2016. Members include both large and small companies, business support
agencies and platforms and partner agencies working in the Southeast Asia region from a
diversity of sectors, including health, manufacturing, services, food and agriculture, etc. A total
of 121 organisations responded to the survey, of which 73 completed the full list of questions
(see annex 1 for questions and survey results). Where possible the results of the survey have
been disaggregated to illustrate similarities and differences between (i) the food, beverage and
agriculture sector and other sectors; and (ii) large and micro, small and medium sized enterprises
(MSMEs), the latter classified for the purposes of this survey as businesses with less than 50
employees
Before presenting the survey results this report presents a contextual section, which offers a
brief orientation on innovation and current thinking on enablers and bottlenecks that are often
encountered. This section informed the design of the survey. The report then presents the main
trends observed from the survey and discusses on the meaning and significance of these. The
full survey results are presented in Annex 1.
Headline messages
The survey received relatively poor responses from businesses in Southeast Asia, but the
results do suggest that the SGDs are on the radar of many businesses with an interest in the
region. Innovation and business drivers are often in-step with the intent of the SDGs. However
challenges remain: the policy and regulatory environment needs attention; effective modes of
partnership, particularly with the public sector are yet to fully emerge and are a prerequisite for
addressing the SDGs at scale; and public sources of R&D, technology and related expertise
seem to play a only limited role in business innovation. A simple survey of the sort conducted
can point to these broad trends. However, to better understand how opportunities for SDG
aligned business innovation could be advanced, a deeper exploration of some of the issue raise is
required.

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Innovation for the SDGs: Drivers,
enablers and bottlenecks
What is innovation?
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (see box 1) present a vision for a world in which
individuals, businesses and nations can all prosper and look forward to a sustainable and
equitable future. Increasingly, businesses are recognising opportunities created by the correlation
between social impact, environmental protection and business growth. These opportunities may
take various forms: more sustainable production systems that reduce cost; new markets for
healthier foods; packaging and processing that reduces waste and also reduces environmental
damage; profitable business models that share value with customers and suppliers; market
information systems that provide efficiencies, and make costs and prices transparent to low
income consumers and suppliers, to name but a few.
Box 1: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere
SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning
SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and children
SDG 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all
SDG 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
SDG 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all
SDG 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
SDG 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries
SDG 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
SDG 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
SDG 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
SDG 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources
SDG 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss
SDG 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies
SDG 17: Revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
To seize these opportunities, innovation is going to be a critical force for change. But what do
we mean by innovation and how does it happen? A useful way to think about innovation is not
as technology alone, but as the process by which ideas (from any source, old or new) are used
in new ways and combinations for economic, social and or environmental gain. Thinking about
innovation in this way points to a number of types of innovation that have relevance to the SDGs
and the business community.

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Technological innovation. Technological
breakthroughs and applications that companies can
use to deliver new products and services that address
specific SDGs. This is often where most attention is
given, but for this to deliver to the SDGs it inevitably
needs to be coupled with and supported by the other
types of innovations outlined below.
Organisational innovation. New organisational
or production processes (which may be enabled by
technological innovation) that allow existing products
and services to be created in ways that address specific
SDGs.
Business innovation. New business models that
create new value for a company and its customers. Of
particular relevance to the SDGs are business models
created to share social or environmental value. This may
involve technological and organisational innovations (as
above) or social innovations (as below). This can take
the form of new types of inclusive, ethical businesses or
involve the mainstreaming of these values in existing businesses.
Social innovation. New relationships or social contracts between companies, value players
(farmers, consumers, MSME suppliers and partners) and employees that create shared value,
mutual support and collective decision making. These are increasingly common in agri-food value
chains where the primary producers are smallholder farmers. They can also take the form of new
governance arrangements in sub sectors, and value chains that allow greater representation of
different stakeholder groups.
Policy innovations. Strategic choices and investments that specifically address SDGs. These
can happen at the company level, where ‘Good Growth’ strategies are adopted (operationalised
by some of the innovations above). It could also take place at the national policy level through
regulation, incentives and investments that in turn encourage the private sector to invest in
innovation aligned to the SDGs.
What does innovation look like and where does it
come from?
Emerging from the recognition of the multiple types of innovation discussed above, it becomes
clear that while technology has a critical role in innovation, it rarely acts alone. It is only when it is
deployed within an individual company’s business model, wider value chain or even at a national
system or society level that it can deliver social, economic and environmental value relevant to the
SDGs. This means that examples of SDG-relevant innovation and emerging opportunities cannot
be explored from a purely technological perspective. Rather, it is more useful to describe SDG
innovation and innovation opportunities in terms of suites of integrated changes.
While it is easy to see the role of individual entrepreneurs as being critical innovation players, in
reality, innovation is a team sport requiring collaboration between companies and their business
partners with wider civil society, public sector and policy players. This means that opportunities
need to be explored through innovation networks rather than just focusing on individual nodes.
Figure 1: Layers of types of innovation

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This is particularly important in relation to the SDGs where the social and environmental agenda
will require deep systemic changes that cannot necessarily be achieved by individual companies
alone, but require a more coordinated approach to innovation. In practice this means that while
it is useful to explore innovation opportunities from the perspective of an individual company
‘spearheading’ a change, it is also important to understand the wider network in which that
company is embedded.
Innovation does not happen in a vacuum. It is most often a response to drivers and triggers
beyond the company itself. These may include technological breakthroughs, new sources
of consumer demand, new policy directions and incentives, new sources of competition,
environmental shocks and convergence of agendas of different stakeholder groups. Since drivers
and triggers shape the direction of innovation, it is important to understand how these align
towards the SDGs. In the same way, understanding current regimes of drivers and triggers helps
explain existing dynamics of innovation and change in businesses, markets and in society more
generally, and identifying where opportunities might exist for addressing SDGs. This line of
enquiry provides a picture of the emerging shaping context and trends of opportunities
now and into the future.
What prevents opportunities becoming realities?
The understanding of innovation not as technology per se but as an integrated process of change
involving people, processes and policy also helps to identify some of the common bottlenecks
that businesses face, and that affect innovation for the SDGs more generally. Innovation by
definition involves doing things differently. Bottlenecks arise because long established ways
of doing things create routines and lock-ins that prevent change. As Albert Einstein said, “The
definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different
results”. Lock-ins can happen at the company level but also in the wider environment. Unlocking
innovation opportunities means identifying these lock-ins and working out how to address them.
Common bottlenecks include:
Public science lock-ins. Public research organisations can be a critical source
of frontier ideas and technology relevant to the SDGs, of expertise to troubleshoot
the application of these, and as a way of translating new ideas from the globalised
science community. However, there is usually a poorly developed tradition of
working with the private sector, meaning that links, partnerships and associated
skills are often missing. This restricts the flow of ideas and makes science
unresponsive to the needs of companies and to wider policy agendas. Finding ways
to better mobilise public science for SDG-relevant innovation will be critical.
Market lock-ins. Large companies often have their own R&D capability (or
resources to access this), business skills and customer information to continuously
and incrementally improve their offering to existing markets in which they are
lead or incumbent players. While these companies have scale and reach, it is
more difficult for them to innovate with radically new products, services and value
propositions relevant to the SDGs as this may involve the creation of new markets
that challenge tried and tested business models. Recognising the comparative
advantage of these companies as incremental improvers (rather than as disrupters)
is important in thinking about different pathways to the SDGs.
Figure 2: Types of lock-ins

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Business capacity lock-ins. Micro and small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) are
critical drivers of innovation in most economies as they have the flexibility and entrepreneurial
drive to try new ideas and challenge existing markets with new products, services and value
propositions. These companies could be a critical source of innovation relevant to the SDGs.
However, they often lack R&D and business capability, have weak or absent links to public
research organisations, industry players and policy, and struggle to access finance to grow their
businesses. Finding ways of providing support to these companies and better networking into the
wider business and policy landscape will be critical for SDG innovation.
Network lock-ins. Business and other linkages and alliances reflect existing markets and
historical patterns of innovation networks developed over many years in the pre-SDG era when
social and environmental concerns were given less emphasis. The “out of the box”, disruptive
innovations needed to address the SDGs will often require a remapping of innovation networks.
Governance lock-ins. Innovation has a pace, but also a direction and this is largely determined
by the agenda of dominant stakeholders. Representation of different stakeholders in sector and
industry level decision-making and strategic choices vary from country to country and between
different industrial sectors. While consultation and fore-sighting mechanisms increasingly
include private players, for historical and logistical reasons these tend to be dominated by large
incumbent actors. Expanding representation in governance arrangements is important to develop
cross-society buy-in, diversity of perspectives and expertise, and collaboration in the deep
systems innovations needed for the SDGs.
Public policy lock-ins. The respective roles of public and private sectors are often framed by
market failure arguments. However, innovation is typified by uncertainty. This means that it is
important for the public sector to bear the risk of driving innovation even in domains where the
private sector will later invest and reap rewards. A challenge for innovation in many industrial
sectors is that investment risks and uncertainty are too great for individual businesses, yet the
public sector discounts its own investment because of closeness to market interests. Unlocking
private sector innovation for the SDGs will require more clarity on these respective roles and
a more proactive investment by the public sector in areas of transformative innovation that
the private sector can invest in. Examples include science and technology, new technology
infrastructure, coordination and stakeholder alignment mechanism, and infant industry incubation
facilities and policies.
In addition to lock-ins there are also lock-outs that prohibit innovation.
These are:
“Know how” lock-outs. Insufficient technical knowledge in an industry
or sub-sector (such as food and agriculture) about a core technology and
how to apply it to solve problems or create new value.
“Know who” lock-outs. Insufficient ability to acquire “know how” on the
development and application of a core technology through personal and
professional relationships and networks.
Market lock-outs. SMEs have the potential to disrupt markets (often
through partnership with established players), but often lack R&D
and business capability, have weak or absent links to public research
organisations, industry players and policy, and struggle to access finance
to grow their businesses.
Figure 3: Types of lock-outs

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Pre-competitive lock-outs. Innovation often requires broad collaboration on a range of issues
before an individual company can introduce an innovation into the market. This may include
collective advocacy for regulator change or infrastructure development. It may also involve
pre-competitive research by industry clusters on specific platform technology or value chain
wide enabling technology such as agreed standards, shared information platforms or market
information systems.
What did the survey tell us?
This survey was exploratory and its results need to be viewed as preliminary. As only 16% of
respondents who completed the survey were from Southeast Asia, the results do not provide
significant contextual detail for the region. It is also worth remembering that the survey
respondents for this sort of survey are often self-selecting and therefore the results to a degree
are focused on businesses that have in some sense “drunk the SDG Kool-Aid”. Nevertheless,
given that the purpose of the survey was to identify broad trends and issues that warrant further
investigation and discussion, it appears to have served its purpose.
MAIN PATTERNS AND TRENDS
The SDGs are part of the agenda of many businesses. The broad picture, perhaps not
surprisingly, is that the SDGs are well and truly on the radar of businesses working in Southeast
Asia when they think about innovation and creating new products and services. Around 61% of
companies surveyed indicated that they are currently implementing an SDG-related initiative or
that they are planning to in the near future. Many companies believe the activities are aligned,
often to a high extent, to one or usually multiple SDGs. For obvious reasons businesses in the
agriculture and food industry in Southeast Asia are aligned most strongly to SDG 2 (Ending
hunger) and SDG 12 (Ensuring sustainable production and consumption). However, as with other
business sectors, alignment with other cross cutting SDGs, such as SDG 5 (Achieving equality)
and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) are also apparent.
Innovation drivers for business are in step with the SDGs. When the reasons of this
alignment are examined it quickly becomes apparent that many of the drivers of innovation
are very much in step with the intentions of the SDGs. There are certainly marked differences
between different sectors and companies of different sizes. Nevertheless, many companies
give almost the same weighting to “social license to operate” (particularly important in the food,
beverage and agriculture sector) “sustainability of the supply base” and “creating shared value” as
they do to “creating new markets” and “competition from other businesses”. It is telling that in the
food, beverage and agriculture sector, maintaining market share was the factor most indicated
as not encouraging innovation. This may suggest (and other responses confirm this) that it is the
possibility of creating new markets in step with the SDGs that is driving innovation.
SDG drivers and business drivers are starting to overlap. The business drivers indicated by
respondents are close cousins of innovation drivers and again many are in step with the intentions
of the SDGs. Transparency of business practices, supply chain integrity, and collaboration with
other businesses are seen as strong business drivers in the food, beverage and agriculture sector.
Competition with other businesses and maximising profits are unsurprisingly flagged as strong
business drivers. What is perhaps more surprising is that these are flagged as equal importance
as drivers aligned with the SDGs.

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R&D support for innovation is mainly in-house. The food, beverage and agriculture sector
and the other sectors acknowledge that R&D support comes from a number of different sources:
in-house, universities and public agencies in the region, business partners and private technology
advisory services. However, in terms of what is considered the most important sources of R&D,
the food, beverage and agriculture sector indicates that it is in-house R&D that is most important,
with other sources not indicated as important at all. It is a similar story with respondents from
other sectors, although small numbers of respondents indicated that public research agencies
and private technology service providers were the most important source of R&D. While
information on this point was a little thin in the responses from the survey, it seems unlikely that
micro, small medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), particularly in the food, beverage and agriculture
sector, have extensive in-house R&D capability (this is discussed in greater detail below).
However, perhaps the number of large, life science-based agri-businesses surveyed skewed this
finding.
Different types of innovation are important, but policy innovation is more so. When
discussing new or planned SDG initiatives, businesses indicated policy innovation to be the most
important. Other forms of innovation (technology, organisational, business and social innovation)
were close behind and were viewed as about of the same importance. The survey did not
collect information on what types of policy innovation were valued by businesses, but given its
importance it would be worth investigating further. A more general observation from the survey is
that new technology seems to be either underplayed or at least viewed only as part of the SDG
story.
Consortium or platform a major implementation modality for SDG initiatives. Partnerships
of various forms feature largely in the way companies indicate they are implementing new or
planned SDG-facing initiatives, with only a very small number of businesses indicating that
they can go it alone. By far the most important implementation modality mentioned is consortia
and platforms. Given the points above about sources of R&D, it is notable that only 13% of
businesses indicate that public research organisations are important collaborators in SDG-aligned
activities.
Key innovation challenges relate to public policy and enabling environment. Innovation
challenges highlighted by businesses indicate some nuanced differences between sectors
and between large and small companies. However, the standout challenges point to issues
in the public policy environment. Of particular importance were the lack of partnership with
policy-makers and other public agencies and a constraining public policy and regulatory
environment. In the food, beverage and agriculture sector MSMEs’ access to technology was
flagged as a critical constraint. This once again suggests that public investments in R&D are not
translating into technology access for MSMEs. More familiar MSME challenges such as access
to finance and creating new markets for novel products were also indicated as critical. These
issues are not unique to SDG-aligned business innovation, but a deeper public policy challenge of
tailoring support to the MSME sector.

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OPPORTUNITIES
Where are the emerging SDG innovation opportunities? In terms of pointing to some
concrete SDG innovation directions ahead, the survey results were disappointing. The assumption
in the survey was that insights would be gained on specific technology or business applications
that had been visioned but remain out of reach. This was perhaps a naive or at least optimistic
assumption. In response to questions on opportunities, the few businesses that did respond
hinted that the opportunity ahead concerns building effective mechanisms to get businesses,
governments and civil society organisations working together in meaningful and effective
ways. This almost seems a truism, given widespread rhetoric on the public-private partners and
SDG delivery. Perhaps the message from this is that despite the rhetoric, effective mechanism
partnerships that deliver results have yet to really solidify.
Is the food, beverage and agriculture sector different? There seem to be many similarities
between SDG innovation experiences in the food, beverage and agriculture sector and those of
other sectors. However, the survey results suggest some differences that are worth considering.
By and large, the food, beverage and agriculture sector features:
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organisations particularly important
Major differences between large and small businesses. There are noticeable differences
between large and small businesses. The survey results hint that MSMEs are aligned to a
larger set of SDGs than larger businesses. This is certainly the case in the food, beverage and
agriculture sector. More generally, the differences observed do not relate to SDG innovation
per se, but a more generalised set of issues related to innovation performance in businesses
of different scales. As already discussed this is particularly apparent in terms of innovation
challenges businesses face. For example, large businesses seem fairly self-contained in terms
of R&D/ technology, and access to finance, and seem to feel comfortable about taking risks in
creating new markets — the main challenges they flag as critical are in the policy and regulatory
environment. MSMEs, on the other hand, in line with their scale and resources need much more
support in the whole process of innovation, developing new products and services and bringing
them to market.

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The quote below encapsulates many of the trends and sentiments of the survey results. Solutions
are available, a multi-goal approach is required, but it is going to require a fundamentally
different type of alliance between businesses governments and civil society if progress is to be
accelerated.
“There are almost unlimited possibilities to create sustainable, liveable and healthy communities, if
governments, industry and civil society work together to implement the solutions that are already
available to ensure that we reach SDG goals 6 and 7. These goals are in many ways overarching
the other goals as they are prerequisites for achieving healthy life, eliminating poverty and illiteracy
and for reducing the man-made changes to eco-systems, nature and climate. If we cooperate on
achieving the SDGs, we will be able to achieve the goals. The benefits for our company will be
increased sale of sustainable solutions, better reputation and most of all a better world for ourselves
and the next generations.”
- Anonymous respondent’s reflection on opportunities ahead.
The following reflections unpack this and flag information gaps that seem to need attention.
The stage is set. Overall the results of this survey suggest that the stage is set for business
innovation to make important contributions to the delivery of the SDGs. The food, beverage and
agriculture sector has a critical role to play in this, especially the MSMEs. Driving this is not the
SDGs per se, after all these have not had time to play out as a guiding force. Instead it appears
the drivers of innovation and wider business drivers are starting to reflect the values of society
and therefore the market demand for more sustainable and ethical products and services. This is
a demand that has been building up for a number of years. The SDGs are a rallying cry for these
values. However, it is the societal values that businesses are sensibly responding to as well as
new opportunities that ideas like shared value are presenting.
The market is key, but what else is needed? If the SDGs themselves are going to become
major innovation and business drivers, something beyond the market is going to need to
happen. This may be why the survey has highlighted the critical importance of policy innovation
SDG-facing initiatives. Getting a better understanding of what these policy innovations look
like and identifying which ones are effective in directing business innovation towards the SDGs
would seem an important step in creating the conditions businesses need to respond more fully
to the SDG agenda. Alternatively, how could society’s appreciation and demand for sustainable
and ethical goods and services be galvanised and accelerated? This implies a major transition
in business practice, technology, markets and policy settings. What are the pathways for that
transition and what might public and private sector roles and investments look in that process?
What policy environments could help? While the stage has been set for innovation and
business to contribute to the SDGs, the survey suggests that there are many issues that need
to be tackled. Policy and regulation is almost universally seen as a debilitating constraint as are
missing relationships with policy makers and public agencies. Some of these constraints are
going to be country and sector and even business-specific. Nevertheless, it would still be useful
to get a much better understanding of what is getting in the way of more productive relations
between business and policy and public agencies more generally. What would an SDG-friendly,
innovation-friendly and business-friendly policy environment look like?

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What makes SDG innovation multi-stakeholder engagement effective? The survey hints
at the absence of (or perhaps the need for more) effective mechanisms to get businesses,
governments and civil society organisations working together in more meaningful and effective
ways. Understanding how effective arrangements work not only needs more investigation, but it
is also a critical question as business and public agencies agendas are tied to the rhetoric that
these arrangements can deliver for both business and SDG agendas.
MSME innovation needs more attention. The survey hints that MSMEs could be a source of
a diverse range of goods and services aligned to multiple SDG goals. It would be worth verifying
this, as a multi-goal approach aligns well with the joined up, win-win thinking behind the SDGs.
The survey also makes it quite clear that MSMEs aligned to the SDGs are like any other set
of MSMEs: unconstrained in terms of novel ideas, but highly constrained by lack of access to
technology, finance and other support services and vulnerable to the risks of launching products
and services into untested and undeveloped markets. Are there really killer SDG business ideas
out there in the MSME world? What are they? And, more importantly, what mix of public and
private investment and support can ensure that they don’t die on the vine?
Why isn’t more use being made of public science and technology? The survey gives a
strong impression that public research organisations and technology are barely on the radar of
businesses and their innovation activities. This is all the more surprising given the abundance
of public research organisations and investments in the region and globally. This seems like a
missed opportunity. Perhaps these weak links to public research are why many companies report
that only half their innovations rely on new technology with the rest based on organisational
innovations, social innovations and business model innovations. Different parts of the public
sector are investing in both research and in enterprise development. So, perhaps the challenge
of business innovation for the SDGs is actually a more general issue of the effectiveness of
innovation policy? It would be valuable to have a better understanding of how public policy
support to innovation affects SDG ambitions, and how a more proactive public policy position
on innovation support could be nurtured. A key message here is that sharing the burden of
innovating to delivering the SDGs with the business community does not absolve public policy
from it wider responsibilities of proactively investing in the conditions needed for innovation to
thrive.
Is enough known to inform decision-making? A simple survey of the sort conducted can
point to the broad trends discussed. However, to better understand how opportunities for SDG
aligned business innovation could be advanced, a deeper exploration of some of the issue raise
is certainly required. The poor response to this survey in Southeast Asia suggests relevant
information is not necessarily easy to generate and it is certainly not the sort of information that is
available in published statistics. Yet without a better picture of the scope of opportunities currently
being missed, a better diagnosis of bottlenecks and a sense of what mix of practice and policies
are proving effect, it is going to be difficult for either businesses of policy agencies to make
decisions going forward.

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
14
SECTION 1: WHO WAS SURVEYED?
Questions:
What sector does your organisation work in and where are your company
headquarters?
Figure 4: Survey responses by Sector Figure 5: Survey responses by Region
Observations
q "MMTVSWFZSFTQPOEFOUTBSFQBSUPGUIF3#'OFUXPSL
q PGSFTQPOEFOUTJEFOUJGJFEUIFJSPGGJDFBTCFJOHMPDBUFEJO"TJB
q "HSJDVMUVSFBOEGPPESFTQPOEFOUTNBLFVQBSFMBUJWFMZNPEFTUPGUIFUPUBMXJUIUIFMBSHFTU
 QSPQPSUJPOPGSFTQPOEFOUTGSPNUIFFOWJSPONFOUBMTFSWJDFTTFDUPS
Annex 1: Survey results

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
15
SECTION 2. BUSINESS ACTIVITY ALIGNMENT TO SDGS
Questions:
Which SDGs do your business activities contribute to?
Figure 6: How the private sector reported they are contributing to the SDGs
(includes aligned and highly aligned responses)
Observations
q .PTUSFTQPOEFOUTSFQPSUFEBMJHONFOUXJUINVMUJQMF4%(T
q 3FTQPOTFTGSPNUIFGPPECFWFSBHFBOEBHSJDVMUVSFTFDUPSTIPXFETJHOJGJDBOUEJGGFSFODFTJOUIFBMJHONFOU
of initiatives with SDGs for MSMEs and large enterprises
q -BSHFFOUFSQSJTFTSFQPSUFEIJHIBMJHONFOUXJUIGPVSHPBMT4%(;FSP)VOHFS4%((FOEFSFRVBMJUZ
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13 Climate Action and SDG 17 Partnerships for
the Goals), whereas the MSME respondents reported high alignment with 8 goals (twice as many).
q 0GUIFHPBMTUIF.4.&TSFQPSUFEIJHIBMJHONFOUXJUIPOMZUXPPGUIFTFXFSFUIFTBNFBTUIFMBSHF
FOUFSQSJTFT4%(;FSP)VOHFSBOE4%(1BSUOFSTIJQTGPSUIFHPBMT
Figure 7: How the Food, Beverage and Agriculture private sector reported
they are contributing to the SDGs (includes highly aligned responses only)

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
16
Figure 8: Comparing reported very strong business drivers
SECTION 3: SDG INNOVATION TRIGGERS AND DRIVERS
Questions:
To what degree are changes in the business environment driving or encouraging
innovation in relation to your businesses contribution to the relevant SDGs?
Annex 1: Survey results
Figure 9: Comparing reported business drivers not encouraging innovation
Observations
q .PTUSFTQPOEFOUTGSPNUIFGPPECFWFSBHFBOEBHSJDVMUVSFTFDUPSJEFOUJGJFE4PDJBM
Licence to Operate as a very strong driver. Creating shared value, creating new markets
and maintaining supply chain integrity were indicated as strong drivers by 40% of the food,
beverage and agriculture sector respondents
q *OPUIFSTFDUPST&OWJSPONFOUBMTUFXBSETIJQXBTUIFTUBOEPVUESJWFSPGSFTQPOEFOUT
followed by sustainability of the supply base (56%), creating shared value (50%) and
collaborating with other businesses (46%),
q "MBSHFOVNCFSPGSFTQPOEFOUTGSPNUIFGPPECFWFSBHFBOEBHSJDVMUVSFTFDUPS
identified Maintaining market share as a driver not encouraging innovation. This was followed
by competition with other businesses and maximising profit (40% of respondents)
q /PUFPGSFTQPOEFOUTGSPNUIFGPPECFWFSBHFBOEBHSJDVMUVSFTFDUPSSFQPSUFE
Sustainability of the supply base as a driver not encouraging innovation, but 54% of
respondents from other sectors reported Sustainability of the supply base as a key driver for
innovation (this is the second most number of people).
q 5IFSFXBTOPTUBOEPVUGBDUPSUIBUXBTOPUFODPVSBHJOHJOOPWBUJPOJOPUIFSTFDUPST

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
17
Questions:
How important are the following business drivers to your business?
Figure 10:
Reported degrees
of importance for

drivers for the Food,
Beverage and
Agriculture sector
Figure 11:
Reported degrees of
-
ent business drivers
for sectors other than
the Food, Beverage
and Agriculture sector

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
18
Figure 12: Reported very important sources of R&D for the private sector’s business sustainability
SECTION 4: SOURCES OF INNOVATION SUPPORT AND EXPERTISE
Questions:
How important are different sources of R&D expertise to your business for innovation?
Annex 1: Survey results
Observations
q *OHFOFSBMSFTQPOEFOUTGSPNUIFGPPECFWFSBHFBOEBHSJDVMUVSFTFDUPSSFDPHOJTFEUIF
importance of all four different sources of R&D.
q )PXFWFSUIJTJTBEJGGFSFOUTUPSZXIFOMPPLJOHBUUIFQFSDFOUBHFPGSFTQPOEFOUTUIBUSFQPSUFE
what they considered as very important sources of innovation, where in-house R&D is
indicated to be the most important source of R&D (40%). It is a similar story for responses
from all sectors (43%).
q 4NBMMOVNCFSTPGSFTQPOEFOUTMFTTUIBOJOEJDBUFEUIBUQVCMJDSFTFBSDIBHFODJFTBOE
private technology service providers were the most important source of R&D.
Figure 13: Responses to if the organisation cur-
rently has an initiative contributing to the SDGs
SECTION 5: CURRENT SDG INITIATIVES
Questions:
Are you currently implementing an SDG-related initiative or planning to implement one in
the near future?
Figure 14: Wordle created from description of
current initiatives

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
19
We believe we can make a difference on a personal level by enabling smallholders to add value and increase revenue.
At a macro level our pioneering disruptive technology will have a measurable impact on food loss, sustainability, carbon
reduction, resource utilisation and poverty alleviation. Many of the SDGs are interlinked.
Improving income levels delivers better education, nutrition and gives options that otherwise would not be available.
A growing economy drives tax receipts, which in turn funds a more socially cohesive society.
The “VALUE” of our technology goes far beyond monetary considerations.
That said, creating shared value is a positive outcome shared by the collaborating partners. Developing a new business
model is fundamental to making our technology accessible to those who would benefit most.
Creating financial instruments to aggregate investment opportunities for distributed RE deployment.
We facilitate collaboration within the eco-system of investors, service providers and users, thus creating opportunity for
all, sharing value in the value chain.
SDG: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
We’re building resilience across our organisation and supply chain, particularly in response to environmental disruptions.
'PSFYBNQMFFOTVSJOHPVSTFSWJDFTBOEQFPQMFBSFOPUJNQBDUFECZFBSUIRVBLFTTVDIBTJTIBQQFOJOHJO/FX;FBMBOE
at the moment.
Valuing ecosystem services in business decision making as part of our 2025 Sustainability Goal on Valuing Nature,
aligned with SDG 15. This will create USD 1 billion in value by 2025.
Fresh, clean and well-treated water is a basic element of civilisation; vital for agriculture and important for industries.
As the world’s most water-focused AC drive company, we have a thorough understanding of all water-based
applications and processes. We provide AC-drive solutions that improve process control, water quality and asset
protection, reduce energy and maintenance costs, ensure higher reliability and performance, and increase the
sustainability of water usage.
Typically, water and wastewater treatment processes account for 25–40% of a municipality’s electricity bill and are the
equivalent of 8% of global electricity consumption.
Water an d wast ewater fac ilities are ther efore n ormall y the single-lar gest e lectricity consumer fo r a mu nicipality.
With extensive use of AC drives, energy-efficient components and real-life online process control combined with energy
production based on the methane from a wastewater plant’s digester, the first full-scale facilities are now in operation on
a completely energy-neutral basis.
This is obtained without adding external carbon.
The energy neutrality covers the whole water cycle, from water production and distribution to wastewater pumping and
treatment.
The energy used in the water distribution system typically represents 60–80% of the total energy consumption for the
whole water supply system.
By adapting the pressure to the real need using pressure zones and boosting pumping stations, energy savings of
25–40% can be achieved. At the same time, water leakage can be reduced by 30–40%.
In Foods, to help tackle Goal 2 (zero hunger), our company (a multi-national food company) is continuing its long-term
partnership with the World Food Programme.
It aims to improve global access to nutritious food by nourishing the lives of adolescents, particularly girls, so that they
can transform their own futures. Our company is also committed to helping farmers implement sustainable farming
practices to improve their yield and protect their land, in line with Goal 15 (life on land).
Our company’s products and technologies (video conferencing and related services) help people defy distance to
unleash the power of human collaboration. As a result, Polycom will focus on Goal 17 Partnerships to empower the
platform to mobilize and collaborate across any distance, border, or device, and find solutions for action around all the
SDGs.
Our company is committed to developing, designing and manufacturing of solar photovoltaic modules, which provides
clean and renewable solar energy. Our mission is to “Benefit Mankind with Solar Energy”.
Worki ng with NGO partne rs on nutri tion & sustainable agricu lture produ ction
Table 1: Descriptions
of reported initiatives

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
20
Figure 15: Reported high alignment with particular SDGs for current initiatives
SECTION 6: INNOVATION AND YOUR CURRENT SDG INITIATIVES
Questions:
Which SDG(s) does the initiative described above align with?
Annex 1: Survey results
Observations
q .PTUSFTQPOEFOUTSFQPSUFEUIBUUIFJSDVSSFOU4%(JOJUJBUJWFTXFSFNPTUIJHIMZBMJHOFEUP4%(
17 (partnerships for the goals), 20% more than any other SDG
q 5IJTJTEJGGFSFOUUPPUIFSDSPTTDVUUJOH4%(TMJLF4%((FOEFS&RVBMJUZXIJDIIBEUIFMFBTU
number of respondents (19%) reporting that their current SDG was highly aligned to it
Questions:
How important are the following types of innovation to the initiative described above?
Figure 16: Comparison of types of innovation reported critical as critical to current SDG initiatives
Observations
q 1PMJDZJOOPWBUJPOXBTSBUFEBTUIFNPTUDSJUJDBMUPDVSSFOU4%(SFMBUFEJOJUJBUJWFTCZPG
respondents.
q 0UIFSGPSNTPGJOOPWBUJPOXFSFJOEJDBUFEUPCFDSJUJDBMCZCSPBEMZFRVBMOVNCFSTPG
respondents.

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
21

initiatives
Questions:
Which SDG(s) does the initiative described above align with?
Observations
q $JWJMTPDJFUZBOEPUIFSCVTJOFTTFTBSFUIFUZQFTPGPSHBOJTBUJPOTNPTUJOWPMWFEJOQBSUOFSTIJQT
to deliver reported SDG current initiatives (47%)
q SFTQPOEFOUTJOEJDBUFUIBUUIFZBSFJNQMFNFOUJOHUIF4%(JOJUJBUJWFTPOUIFJSPXO
q 'PSPSHBOJTBUJPOTQBSUJBMMZJOWPMWFEJO4%(JOJUJBUJWFTPGSFTQPOEFOUTJOEJDBUFEBDBEFNJB
research organisations and consultants and technical advisers are involved in implementing
current SDG initiatives
SECTION 7: UNREALISED SDG INNOVATION OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES
Questions:
When you think about the future, what are the SDG opportunities you foresee for your
company, sector or industry?
Figure 18: Reported degrees

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
22
Lower energy cost, better food supply, providing to areas of need
Good hygiene and sanitation, zero waste, clean and green environment
We are focused on making our technology as widely accessible as possible to contribute to as many SDG’s as possible
and see this as core to our long term strategy
Opportunities to making good future happens.
We seek to create massive collaborative efforts that are centred around SDG outcomes, that are open for participation
by interested stakeholders (one could say that we want to create outcome-centric initiative and NOT entity-centric
initiatives.
I foresee an increased focus on the SDGs from all my customers, companies and organisations alike.
Climate action and responsible production and consumption. Because this automatically reduces our risk profile further.
Renewable Energies and Green Building
Educa tion, e ngineer ing of systems , const ruction of sys tems
Sustainable infrastructure which leads to sustainable development.
Very im port ant as v iewe d by so many bus ines ses as r elev ant and impo rtan t to the ir f utur e pr ospe rity .
Business at the Base of the Pyramid
New business markets
Sustainable market and consumption
Partnership
Many of the business activities are aligned to the goals in some way.
However they are not necessarily being called out as an SDG initiative.
I think there is opportunity for the industry and the organisation to identify the links to the goals and make these
meaningful so that we can see the connections back to the global picture.
Also if actors link together around the goals and challenges we can achieve greater progress in that area and be more
targeted in how the industry responds to those particular issues
There are almost unlimited possibilities to create sustainable, liveable and healthy communities if governments, industry
and civil society work together to implement the solutions that are already available to ensure that we reach SDG goals
6 and 7. These goals are in many ways overarching the other goals as they are prerequisites for achieving healthy life,
eliminating poverty and illiteracy and for reducing the man-made changes to eco-systems, nature and climate. If we
cooperate on achieving the SDG’s, we will be able to achieve the goals.
The benefits for our company will be increased sale of sustainable solutions, better reputation and most of all a better
World for ourselves and the next generations.
Sustainable ecosystems that address multiple SDGS built between our business, consumers, competitors, government,
other sectors and industries.
Building affordable, energy efficient cars that will be available to as many people as possible
Primary focus is around enabling collaboration and partnerships. But Polycom technologies contribute to advancing
human rights such as access to education, healthcare and other public services.
Clean Solar Energy Development
Yield intensification
Table 2: Reported
foreseen SDG oppor-
tunities

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
23
Figure 19: Reported collaborators needed
to achieve foreseen opportunities
Questions:
To achieve these opportunities which of the organisation(s) listed below are important
collaborators?
Observations
q PGSFTQPOEFOUTSFQPSUFEUIBUDPOTPSUJVNTBSFUIFUZQFPGQBSUOFSTIJQOFFEFEUPSFBMJTF
opportunities, whereas current partnerships primarily focus on collaborations with other
businesses and NGOs only
q 0OMZPGSFTQPOEFOUTSFQPSUFEUIBUUIFZUIPVHIUUIFPQQPSUVOJUJFTDBOCFBDIJFWFEUISPVHI
their organisation alone, compared to 53% of respondents reporting that current SDG
initiatives involved various modes of collaboration.
q 0OMZBCPVUBUIJSEPGUIFJOJUJBUJWFTBSFXPSLJOHXJUIDPOTPSUJVNTPSQMBUGPSNTPGEJGGFSFOU
actors
q "MNPTUPGSFTQPOEFOUTSFQPSUFEXPSLJOHFOUJSFMZXJUIPUIFSCVTJOFTTFTBOEDJWJM
society organisations to implement their current initiatives and an additional 42% and 32%
(respectively) of respondents reported partially involving these organisations in current
initiatives
q (PWFSONFOUBDBEFNJBBOEDPOTVMUBOUTXFSFNPTUMZSFQPSUFEBTCFJOH
partially involved in the implementation of current initiatives.
Questions:
At what level do you think these opportunities will lead to innovation and impact?
Figure 20: Reported perceptions of scale of opportunities

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
24
Figure 21: Comparing reported debilitating challenges for MSMEs
Questions:
How important do you think the following innovation challenges are for your company in
relation to the SDGs?
Figure 22: Comparing reported debilitating challenges for Large Enterprises

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
25
Observations
q -BSHFEJGGFSFODFTJOEFCJMJUBUJOHDIBMMFOHFTGPS.4.&TBOEMBSHFFOUFSQSJTFTBOEOPUBCMF
differences in debilitating challenges between MSMEs in the food, beverage and agriculture
sector compared with other sectors
q 'PSMBSHFFOUFSQSJTFTJOCPUIUIFGPPECFWFSBHFBOEBHSJDVMUVSFTFDUPSBOEJOPUIFSTFDUPST
the only debilitating challenges reported were: Lack of partnerships/ relationships with policy
makers and other public agencies and a constraining public policy and regulatory environment.
q .4.&SFTQPOEFOUTJOUIFGPPECFWFSBHFBOEBHSJDVMUVSFTFDUPSSFQPSUFEGPVSEJGGFSFOU
challenges as debilitating:
o Access to new technology, research and expertise (26%)
o Concerns about offering products or services where the market has yet to develop fully (26%)
o Lack of partnerships/ relationships with other companies (27%)
o Lack of partnerships/ relationships with civil society organisations (27%)
q .4.&TJOUIFGPPECFWFSBHFBOEBHSJDVMUVSFTFDUPSOPUFEUIFGPMMPXJOHEFCJMJUBUJOH
challenges as significant unlike MSMEs in other sectors:
o Lack of access to finance (27%)
o Lack of partnerships/ relationship with policy makers and other public agencies (20%)
o A constraining policy and or regulatory environment (25%)

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
26
Annex 2: Roundtable discussion summary
The findings contained in this report were presented at a round table discussion at the
Responsible Business Forum on Food and Agriculture, held in Jakarta in March 2017.
Approximately 25 participants attended this meeting with representatives from businesses,
academia and civil society. The presentation prompted a lively discussion and raised many issues
that would benefit from deeper analysis. The main themes of this discussion were as follows:
1. The need for a fine-grained understanding of the business-led innovation
landscape, drivers and challenges.
The report provides a broad-brush picture of business–led trends, drivers and challenges
based on an e-survey data set. However there are clearly limitations to a study of this type: for
example, the relatively poor response rate from local companies in the South East Asia region,
the small size of the sample and as a consequences the difficulty in disaggregating information
from different types of companies to give a nuanced picture of how innovation patterns are
playing out in different parts of the business community. These limitations were discussed,
with participants highlighting a number of contradictory and surprising results. The conclusion
reached was that while e-surveys (with some refinement) of this sort can indicate broad trends,
to understand what these trends really mean and to understand how these are playing out in
different business contexts, a deeper analysis is required. This, it was suggested, requires face
to face interviews and qualitative research methods to better understand the innovation and
business processes at play. Its also needed to get a better understanding of the innovation
opportunities that companies can imagine but can not achieve. This was the weakest point of
the survey responses.
2. Relationships, partnerships and collaboration.
The discussions mirrored much of the report findings that suggest that partnerships are
important for innovation, yet partnerships remain a challenge to operationalize for many
businesses. A number of missed opportunities that arise from this where discussed.
q -BSHFDPNQBOJFTDPVMEQBSUOFSNPSFXJUI4.&TUIBUIBWFHSFBUJEFBTIFMQJOHUIFNBDDFTT
funding and supporting their capacity to create business opportunities that larger companies
can also benefit from.
q (PWFSONFOUBOECVTJOFTTFTDPVMEDPMMBCPSBUFNPSFTUSPOHMZJOUIFDPEFWFMPQPGQPMJDZ"
clear message from the report and from discussion in the roundtable was that the policy
environment for business innovation is “underdeveloped”. This is not something that
businesses can tackle individually, but instead will require joined-action and closer collaboration
with government and policy bodies. It remains unclear how this process can be operationalized
where there are illustrative examples of it working well.
q 5IFQBSUJDJQBOUTEJTDVTTFEBUMFOHUIUIFNJTTFEPQQPSUVOJUZPGXFBLQVCMJDSFTFBSDI
institutes - business collaboration that, if strengthened, could improve the relevance of public
research and provide business with access to new technology and allied expertise needed for
innovation.

BUSINESS-LED INNOVATION AND THE SDGS
27
A more general point on partnerships is the observation that this is still largely discussed
in binary terms of public and private sectors or large companies and small companies.
Participants discussed the role of civil society organization also. However it seems fairly clear
that innovation for the SDG’s is going to require collaboration across a wide set of capabilities
(and therefore individuals and organizations). Little thought seems to have been given to this
in current debates, and a much deeper understanding is needed of how this might work and
how it could be supported through both public and private sector investments.
3. Measuring progress
There was considerable discussion of the need to have better measure of progress against
SDGs. It was suggested that this is needed for accountable reasons, particularly in partnership
based initiatives. It was also suggested that quantifying progress and impacts could enable
better dialogue, particularly with policy makers. There were also calls for open data –“let
the data speak” – and generally the need for a much stronger evidence base about what is
working and why. One participant raised strong concerns that SDG reporting runs the danger
of it being used cynically to rebadge business as usual activities and results. The argument
was made that reporting on the SDGs needs to be about reporting on the transformations that
businesses and governments are making in order to address the SDG as well as the metric of
impact.
4. The perennial challenge of technology adoption by farmers.
As already mentioned in relation to the role of research institutes and their collaboration with
the private sector, there is a general sense that good technologies are available but are not
being made use of. One participant from a major international integrated value chain company
explained that a major challenge was getting smallholder farmers to adopt improved practices
and technology. Without this farm level innovation it was argued it is difficult to improve
productivity and incomes and difficult to introduce sustainable and inclusive production
practices. This challenge was echoed by other international agribusiness companies in the
wider conference whose business model either depends on sell products (agricultural inputs)
or involves working with communities to create a sustainable and inclusive supply base. The
participants acknowledge that the challenge of accelerating farmer adoption of technology has
been around a long time and has been studied extensively. However, many of the solutions
to this problem applied in public agricultural extension services seem outdated and not in
step with the business-led model of farm and value chain innovation. Developing new models,
working out what works well and identifying bottle necks and lock-ins that restrict farm level
innovation seems like an applied research task that not only needs collaboration across
agri-businesses, but could contribute to the solution of a problem that both business and public
research and agricultural extensions agencies need to solve to move forward on a number of
SDGs.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Contact
CSIRO Agriculture and Food Business Unit
Andrew Hall
T +61 262464771
E Andrew.hall@csiro.au
W www.csiro.au/agriculture and food
Global Initiatives
Outi Annala
T +65 98903030
E outi.annala@globaliniatives.com
W www.responsiblebusiness.com
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