Manufacturers are facing a shifting landscape as they seek to balance sustainability with profitability in today's business environment. Traditionally, the focus was on speed, quality and cost efficiency, but now sustainability has become a strategic imperative, according to a recent Harvard Business Review report.
The report also revealed that a growing number of companies are leveraging deep tech, which involves the innovative use of emerging physical technologies enabled by digital technologies, to address this challenge on a larger scale.
Several factors are converging to facilitate this transition. The urgency to achieve sustainability goals has increased due to net-zero commitments and stakeholder demands, according to the Harvard Business Review Report. Additionally, financial and regulatory support for green technologies is at an all-time high, with initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States and the European Green Deal in the EU.
Lastly, transformative technologies are transitioning from the lab to real-world applications, creating opportunities for manufacturers, such as market expansion and supply chain resilience, particularly for green materials.
To seize these opportunities and enhance the profitability-sustainability profile of their products, manufacturers are encouraged to adopt deep tech solutions. This involves reimagining products at their core rather than pursuing incremental improvements.