Sustainable enterprise
Therefore the next challenge for entrepreneurship is to develop models of entrepreneurial activity which are sustainable: environmentally, ecologically, socially and economically. They cannot be dependent for growth and continuity just on competition for and consumption of scarce and limited resources. Access to resources is vital for entrepreneurs, yet we must move on from the 'use it up' to a 'use it again' model for the world economy to be able to support its increasing population. One place for researchers and entrepre¬neurs to start is to connect with environmentalists. There has been significant progress in environmental awareness, resource conservation and waste recycling, especially in some mainland European countries, since the 1990s. Waste dumping of recyclable resources is
reducing and new industries are being created to provide advice and services in energy generation and conservation, ecologically friendly building and waste recycling. It is nor the whole solution but the limits have certainly not been reached.
There is scope for continuing innovation to achieve sustainable enterprise based on renewable resources, and these forms of enterprise offer significant scope for creating new knowledge, wealth and employment worldwide. There is an urgent need to develop 'lean resource' methods of business which make minimal demands on non-renewable resources, just as companies have been able to develop Mean production' methods. Distribution and transportation are resource-intensive and often wasteful, offering scope for cost and resource reduction through smarter technologies. Water, energy and material conservation and recycling are clearly areas of rapidly growing importance which wc cannot afford to ignore, yet where new value can be created. There is even scope for developed societies to learn from the scavenging practices of the acutely poor people in developing economies who eke out a living by finding recyclable resources from waste dumps, including waste exported from the UK. Can innovation provide more efficient and dignified methods of screening waste to reclaim recyclables?