More than a decade ago, Porter and Kramer shared the theory of shared value creation secondo cui le imprese devono concentrarsi sull’identificazione ed espansione delle connessioni tra progresso sociale ed economico attraverso l’incorporazione della sostenibilità e della responsabilità sociale d’impresa. Oggi, complici crisi climatica e digitalizzazione, questo concetto ritorna prepotentemente con la nascita della Twin Transition, a path taken by companies that takes note of the changes the world is experiencing thanks to new technologies and a Planet that sees its balance increasingly in danger.
1. What is the Twin Transition
But what exactly is it all about? The Twin Transition, also called the 'double transition,' is the symbiosis of the technological-digital transition and the environmental transition. Called for by the NRP, it consists of the modernization of production processes through the development of solutions to make society and its industries more sustainable.
La doppia transizione, prendendo atto dei cambiamenti in corso nel mondo, unisce l’agenda del digitale e della sostenibilità unendo gli obiettivi di quest’ultima, i cosiddetti SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), to new technologies that enable them to be reached more effectively and efficiently.
This marriage of technology and sustainability fits into the initiatives of the European Green Deal, namely:
"A set of proposals to make EU climate, energy, transport and taxation policies fit to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030."
2. Taking part in the Twin Transition from theory to practice
To implement the goals, however, it is necessary to make changes that start from within and, in particular, from the human capital who every day do their part to make the world a better place.
According to the Excelsior bulletin January 2023 of Unioncamere, in fact, there is first and foremost a need for highly qualified professionals to support the transition who possess technical and entrepreneurial skills, but also green skills to give the processes a 'green' footprint.
Tuttavia, il bisogno di talenti con familiarità e conoscenza delle tematiche ambientali, non è collegato alla creazione di nuove professioni, quanto più ad a upskilling of existing ones that are being rethought from a sustainable perspective.
In fact, it is about making some of them even more digital and green, allowing professionals from different fields to acquire new skills and, consequently, enabling them to update and enhance their job position, while contributing value to society through the performance of their work.
In particular, again according to the Excelsior bulletin January 2023 of Unioncamere, between 2022 and 2026 there will be a need for 1.4-1.6 million workers with highly skilled digital and green skills, especially in the construction, energy, mechanical and electric car, agriculture and, finally, chemical sectors. Nonetheless, the most sought-after workers by far would seem to be Data Scientists and Artificial Intelligence and machine learning engineers, digital technology professionals capable of mastering large masses of data and algorithms with which to build tailored services and increasingly personalized experiences.
If the first step in taking part in the Twin Transition is to invest in the transformation of people, the second step is to redefinition of processes: exactly as in Porter and Kramer's theory, it is important for each organization to make changes to its products and services, value chain, and the way it wants to impact its communities and target territory. To do this, organizations can:
✅ Redefining its business model from a sustainable perspective: Reviewing the system of decisions, strategies, and logic underlying business processes is instrumental in understanding how to approach the market and society more consciously through an analysis that identifies how areas and functions impact the environment and the related critical issues that need to be resolved to improve the output and outcome of one's activities;
✅ Integrating ESG aspects: the integration of factors related to environmental, economic and social sustainability is essential for creating long-term value and transforming a company's business model into an SBM, or Sustainable Business Model. This makes it possible not only to increase the importance placed on sustainability and the baggage it drags with it, but also to measure the ability of organizations to deliver both qualitative and quantitative benefit.
✅ Embracing the concept of sustainable success: creating shared value and taking part in the Twin Transition means putting a company's digital technologies and technical expertise at the disposal of society, helping to redefine the economy and make its own a concept of business success that is no longer just in terms of financial asset growth but in a broader sense, a success that enables the full development of the whole society, its organizations and its members.
3. Why the Twin Transition is good for Open Innovation.
Companies like VGen believe strongly in open innovation and the power of companies to contribute to it to make the world more sustainable.
Innovation today is the key that companies cannot do without to open the doors of progress: thanks to it, they can grow and prosper, achieving success in economic terms and, thanks to investments in new technologies, sustainability, and an increasingly diverse human capital, with diverse backgrounds and vertical skills, also in social and environmental terms.
Whether it starts from the externalization of internal stimuli through the use of a platform business model that facilitates interaction between consumers and producers, or from the adoption of external stimuli that bring innovation in-house, as in the case of contests such as Call4Ideas, contests or the creation of competitions and challenges such as Hackathons and Challenges, innovation actions are always marked by the use of digital technologies and the creation of value for its recipients.
In this sense, the Twin Transition is a real boost for Open Innovationinitiatives: the latter's desire to contribute to the growth of companies, fits perfectly with the goal of the double transition of creating a more sustainable society and industrial system. The output of this union is the progression of the system as a whole, a win-win relationship in which individuals and businesses produce positive effects by going beyond their own boundaries.
