Wonderful scientific insights and ideas emerge at institutes around the world, but it often takes a long time before they are widely applied in products, if at all. As society is looking hard for solutions to global challenges, it is crucial to improve how ideas are turned into innovations that fit into a sustainable future. The challenges faced by an idea on its route to wide application are not limited to scientific or technical challenges, but include the business models, public interests and regulation. Addressing these challenges simultaneously requires an integrative and creative approach.

Jaron Weishut is an independent innovation strategist at Nexero, who gets things done by creating unexpected connections between ideas and people. He has a particular interest in scaling innovation and sustainability.Until recently, Jaron was the Managing Director of The Green Village (https://www.thegreenvillage.org) an urban living lab on the campus of Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands).