The results of the applied research project of the Institute for Management and Innovation (IMI) are available at https://nachhaltiges-innovationsmanagement.de/ companies can find exciting company case studies, management methods and knowledge for SMEs on the topic of "sustainable innovation management"
The research project "Sustainable Innovation Management" by the Institute for Management and Innovation (IMI) shows how companies can integrate sustainability aspects into innovation activities and thus achieve successful and sustainable products, processes and business models.
The project, which began in May 2024, was funded by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy and Mobility and supported by the Rhineland-Palatinate Innovation Agency and the Rhineland-Palatinate EffNet® efficiency network.
The central result was the freely usable information platform https://nachhaltiges-innovationsmanagement.de/, which offers SMEs inspiration and tips for their own sustainability-oriented innovation projects by providing structured and easy access to "successful practices".
At its core are concrete case studies of successful innovations with improved (here in focus: ecological) sustainability characteristics from well-known larger and smaller companies in various sectors. These can be new products or services, manufacturing processes, technologies or completely new business models. In addition, there are practice-validated methods and procedures that help to ensure the success of sustainability-oriented innovation activities. The content can be filtered in various ways so that users of the portal can quickly access individually relevant results. The "practical model" of sustainable innovation, which is based on classic elements of innovation management and enables users to select suitable case studies and methods for different issues - e.g. with regard to strategy orientation, operational aspects of innovation projects or organizational framework conditions - offers special access.
Various intensive expert interviews with decision-makers in innovative German companies and case studies based on these interviews formed the basis for the development of the current company case studies. In this context, we would like to express our sincere thanks to all the practice partners involved.
The current compilation of content offers interested specialists and managers from SMEs exciting insights into current successful approaches to sustainability-oriented innovation practice and provides impetus for their own innovation activities. It will be further expanded in the near future.
On 17.11.2025, project manager Philipp Tachkov, research assistant Eileen Basler and the head of IMI, Prof. Dr. Rainer Völker, presented the web portal at the anniversary event of the Rhineland-Palatinate EffNet® efficiency network at the Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy and Mobility and pointed out that there are already many convincing examples of sustainable innovation management, for example with regard to new products based on bioeconomic principles, circular business models, achieving net zero, sustainable value chains and other goals in this context. Procedures and instruments therefore do not have to be reinvented. However, these examples are often not very visible and certainly not available and prepared in a centralized and user-friendly manner for the purpose of knowledge transfer. This need is to be addressed with the new information portal, which is aimed in particular at SMEs and other small and medium-sized enterprises. Marketing activities are now being launched to ensure that the service, which is not yet available in a comparable form, is quickly disseminated and used on a wide scale.
The MKUEM hopes that the web portal will be widely used, especially by SMEs. "The examples in the portal show that many companies in Rhineland-Palatinate are already addressing the issue of sustainability and do not see sustainability as a regulatory burden, but rather as an instrument for shaping innovations in such a way as to ensure their competitiveness," said the consultants who supported the project. On January 19, 2026, companies will have the opportunity to get to know the project as well as individual companies and their sustainable innovation management approaches at an event at the MKUEM from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Institute for Management and Innovation (IMI) at Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) can look back on over 20 years of successful cooperation with renowned corporate partners and public institutions as an application-oriented business research and transfer institution. Since 2017, it has bundled university expertise in the areas of strategic management, innovation and sustainability management as well as business development.
Link to the web portal "Sustainable Innovation Management ": https://nachhaltiges-innovationsmanagement.de/
Specialist contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society
Institute for Management and Innovation (IMI)
Philipp Tachkov, Dipl.-Kfm.
Tel. 0621/5203-259
Email: philipp.tachkov@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de
