Radical sustainability from Global South

This is a draft entry. The final version will be available in Elgar Encyclopedia of Innovation Management edited by Eriksson, P., Montonen, T., Laine, P-M, & Hannula, A., forthcoming in 2025, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035306459

Innovations and technologies are set to play a key role in sustainability transformations. That is, a radical transformation to a more socially and ecologically sustainable society. Yet, perspectives on sustainability transformations and how to reach them vary greatly. Mainstream Western approaches prioritise green growth and technological innovations for decarbonisation and biodiversity conservation. However, alternative understandings of innovation and technology are gaining ground, particularly in response to the question of whether economic growth can be decoupled from CO2 emissions and material consumption. This entry explores alternative perspectives on innovations, highlighting concurrent streams of sustainable innovations emerging from post-development and post-growth movements in the Global South, which challenge the dominant Western models of sustainability and sustainable development that is heavily reliant on technological optimism and innovations for profit. In fact, alternative understanding on technologies and innovations are based on principles of conviviality, pluriverse and grassroots to create a more sustainable and inclusive society and approach innovations from more-than-technology perspectives.