An analysis of the sustainability goals of digital technology start-ups in Berlin

Thorsten Lammers*, Lubna Rashid, Jan Kratzer, Alexey Voinov

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)
581 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

New digital ventures play a very important role in the creation of new products and services and are a major driver of current economies. At the same time, there is growing awareness about sustainability and more interest in transformation towards a more sustainable future. This raises the question about rational choices of digital entrepreneurs and the subsequent contributions of new digital ventures in terms of sustainability. In times of rapid disruption through digital technologies, many new enterprises are driven by such new technologies. But to what extent do digital technology start-ups contribute to sustainability? An analysis of 320 start-ups from a large survey of entrepreneurial activities in the Berlin metropolitan region indicates that digital technology start-ups primarily focus on economic goals, with social and environmental goals being of lower importance or even ignored. This makes us question the priorities of current frameworks and incentive schemes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number122096
Number of pages10
JournalTechnological forecasting and social change
Volume185
Early online date12 Oct 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2022

Keywords

  • Artificial intelligence
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Impact assessment
  • Sustainable development goals
  • Triple bottom line, rational choice theory
  • 2023 OA procedure

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