The Role of the FAST Technology as a Driver for Sustainable Business Models within the Biobased Chemical Industry

Abstract

Addressing climate change is a challenge that governments, society, and companies have to face. For companies this becomes a major challenge as they are required to innovate in order to become more sustainable whilst still remain competitive. However, carrying out technological innovation may be useless if it cannot be diffused in the market. Due to this, ventures must go further and modify their current business models to change the way they are doing business and thus generate sustainable value and remain competitive. Within this context, a research gap that relates sustainability, business model innovation, and technology can be identified. To address this gap, an empirical exploratory case study is used as approach. The case study analysed is the Fermentation Acceleration by Separation Technology (FAST), a breakthrough technology in the biotechnology industry that is able to produce chemicals by means of a more cost-effective fermentation process. The technology was developed by DAB, a Dutch biotechnology spin-off from TU Delft. The main research question that was proposed to address the research gap was: “How can the FAST technology be a driver for sustainable business model innovation of biobased chemical companies?”. To answer the question, two business models were generated using the triple layered business model canvas for assessing and visualising, under a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) perspective, to what extent and in which elements of a business model the FAST technology drives sustainability. The models assessment considered DAB as a producer and a licensor for 2-phenylethanol (2PE) production by means of FAST, respectively. The main finding of this thesis project is that it has proven that FAST drives sustainable business model innovation within the biobased chemical industry. This is as sustainable business model innovation is found in both value proposition and value creation & delivery of the two sustainable business models generated by complementing FAST with the use of organic raw materials and solvents, and renewable energies as power source. More specifically, FAST sustainable innovativeness can be seen in the elements of value proposition, key resources, key partners, and customer segments of these novel sustainable business models. FAST drives sustainable business model innovation within these four elements by being a breakthrough innovation (key resources) that includes a sustainable and efficient production of biochemicals within its value proposition. Moreover, innovation is also driven within key partnerships as FAST requires strain designers to adopt a different approach when engineering new microorganisms. Here, the technology has an effect outside its business model, modifying the value chain. Furthermore, FAST can reach new customer segments and be competitive with current production processes of chemicals as it was shown for the case of 2PE. This sustainable innovativeness differs from the practices other companies within the industry have implemented which are focused on changing the fossil origin of raw materials but do not consider the creation of new value propositions/business models to balance the financial, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability. Regarding the theoretical contribution, this thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of the two business models outlined from the biotechnology sector and shows how they are able to capture the value of a novel sustainable innovation. By doing this, the research gap among business model innovation, sustainability, and technology is reduced. The generation of the sustainable business models was performed by: carrying out a literature review, a questionnaire on sustainability indicators, the Delphi method to obtain a consensus, and simulations of processes for 2PE production. The contribution for practitioners is an example on how they can design business models for a novel technology using a tool that offers a comprehensive analysis of its effects on sustainability. Moreover, the integrated LCA allows practitioners to have a quantitative analysis for measuring the impact of their technology, processes and activities. Furthermore, it may be also useful for redesigning current business models by assessing which components may be modified or kept to achieve sustainability.