Projects benefit realisation through sustainable innovation: drivers and challenges

Purpose: Projects are increasingly becoming the key means of benefits realisation through sustainable innovation. Yet, the literature has predominantly focused on the “sustainability of projects”, emphasising traditional project short-term success metrics like time, cost and quality. This narrow perspective falls short of explaining how organisations should leverage sustainable innovation to generate broader project benefits. Our research addresses this gap by taking the recent “sustainability by project” conceptualisation. We answer the questions: (RQ1) “How do projects realise benefits through sustainable innovation?” and (RQ2) What are the drivers and challenges for organisations developing these projects?” Design/methodology/approach: The empirical context is the European Space Economy. We performed a single case study regarding the European Space Agency Business application program, which aims to foster sustainable innovation to realise the benefits to society. Following a grounded theory approach, we conducted and analysed 44 interviews with managers and triangulated them with secondary data. Findings: We build a theoretical framework explaining how projects realise benefits through sustainable innovation. We found that the drivers for benefits realisation are (1) envisioning a common sustainable future and (2) opening to the project ecology. Challenges are (1) struggling to take off sustainable innovation and (2) having a short-sighted view of the future. We also identified the practices and conditions managers consider antecedents of the drivers and challenges. Practical implications: Managers may implement the identified practices to activate key drivers and navigate challenges in achieving project benefits through sustainable innovation. Policymakers could utilise these insights to shape policies that foster a project ecology conducive to sustainable innovation and long-term benefit realisation. Originality/value: Our paper contributes to reconciling sustainable innovation and project benefit realisation. We offer a new empirical-grounded perspective to pivot from the “sustainability of projects” toward the “sustainability by projects”, showing the drivers and challenges for project benefits realisation.