EarlyBirds, an Australian company that operates, a business to business (B2B) open ecosystem that offers a way for innovators, early adopters, and subject matter experts (SMEs) to collaborate and push for technology advancement, explains how organisations could work towards achieving “net zero” with disruptive innovation. “Net zero” means there is a balance between the amount of greenhouse gases being produced and the amount that is being removed from the atmosphere.

Achieving “net zero” is important as a way to counteract global warming, which scientists claim can lead to more intense and more frequent drought, heat waves, storms, and rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming oceans. This, in turn, can directly harm animals and destroy the places they live, and may negatively impact people's livelihoods and communities. Furthermore, as greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere, dangerous weather events become more severe and more frequent.

It is, therefore, imperative for corporations and various organisations to work towards sustainability, in fact, the international political response as embodied in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), resulted in the establishment of a framework for action with the goal of stabilising the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to avoid dangerous levels resulting from human activity.

Organisations are now discovering innovative ways to reduce their emissions and thus achieve “net zero.” For example, the use of electric vehicles and the establishment of zero-carbon fleets is a disruptive innovation that is being embraced by a number of companies, particularly those that depend on cars and trucks for their operations. Another example is the development of disruptive technologies that allow the conversion of waste emissions from heavy industries into fuel, ethanol and other chemicals using bacteria. An alcoholic drinks company, meanwhile, has found a way to use spent grain from its brewing processes to produce renewable energy.

One of the primary strategies being used by various organisations in several parts of the world is to come up with a way to look at the challenge as a potential opportunity. For instance, electric power generating companies are using their shift to renewable energy sources, such as the wind, to increase their profitability. For start-ups and innovators, this can be the opportunity they have been looking for. The need to counteract climate change, which is typically regarded as a problem, can motivate businesses to accelerate their innovation efforts and come up with disruptive technologies that may have a positive impact on their bottom line.

It is important to note that EarlyBirds can assist in proving solutions, frameworks and certain innovators in coming up with disruptive solutions that assist in reducing carbon emissions. EarlyBirds can play an important role in accelerating innovation in organisations. The EarlyBirds open innovation ecosystem functions as a B2B platform where businesses get the chance to discover developers or innovators to push forward their goal of using disruptive technologies to help them achieve their “net zero” goal. In this system, SMEs act as consultants to assist the businesses and innovators.

The EarlyBirds open innovation ecosystem has two parts. There is a self-service subscription approach to use the platform and analyse the bigdata of well more than a million global innovators. An innovation project capability supports team collaboration for identifying, shortlisting, and curating relevant innovators to solve a challenge or take advantage of an opportunity.  

The second part are the EarlyBirds assisted programs. The Explorer program has the goal of accelerating innovation for the whole organisation as a service and has a number of features, including: a platform enterprise license; webinars to help stimulate innovation in the organisation; a nominated SME for the business; quarterly and monthly innovation days; and a focus on certain innovations. There is also the Challenger program, which is designed for those who want to concentrate on a particular challenge for the organisation, such as attaining a particular “net zero” goal.

Also, EarlyBirds is currently looking for partners to build a holistic industry capability view of ‘net zero’ and those who are able and willing to participate can reach out to them by phone or by email.

Those who would like to know more as to how EarlyBirds can help businesses make use of disruptive innovation for various purposes, including ensuring sustainability and achieving “net zero,” can check out the EarlyBirds website at earlybirds.io, or contact them on the telephone or through email.