This pdf contains an early draft of Forum for the Future's disruptive innovation cards (more on Forum innovation projects here http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/projects/innovation). Please see contact details at bottom of that web page if you want the latest version of the cards or want to talk to us about disruptive innovation and sustainable development. We would welcome any feedback on the cards - they are constantly evolving. Please credit us if using them.

1. Step 1. Choose an organisation
This should be the one you work for.
Alternatively, pick ve to disrupt (e.g. airline,
Disruptive retailer, construction company, local authority
waste department)
Innovation Cards Step 2. Set a challenge
What is the biggest sustainability challenge the
organisation faces or its toughest problem? List
at least one per organisation you want to disrupt.
How to use the cards (How do you reduce ying? How do you change a
These cards help you come up with BIG, consumer behaviour?)
new and more sustainable ideas to change
Step 3. Select your method
the world. Each card helps you innovate by
Pick at least one card. Select randomly, choose
providing a disruptive method, a challenge
your 3 favourites, or simply go through them all.
and examples of how it's been used. Use
Think creatively about how you would solve the
them to disrupt for a sustainable future.
challenge in your organisation, using the
disruptive method/s. Note your ideas.
Step 4. Use a 'wild-card'
As a nal disruption, pick the 'gate-crash another
sector' card. Swap your problem for a less
obvious one, then try to solve this (How can a
construction company reduce ying?)
Regulatory Change
What is it?
Disruptive Changes in the policy and regulatory
Innovation Cards
framework can radically shift, open up and
create markets.
* What regulatory changes should you be
tracking or advocating?
Examples:
- The German government introduced a
‘feed-in-tariff’ to incentivise micro-
generation of renewable energy at the
domestic level. It pays households a
premium electricity they generate and feed
back into the grid.

2. Social Innovation
What is it?
Disruptive This is innovation with a social purpose
Innovation Cards
aimed at meeting the needs of all - like the
Community Police or NHS Direct. It often
grows from grassroots level upwards, driven
by the public and/or charity sector.
* How would you link to or amplify an
emerging sustainability trend in society?
Examples:
- Global food giant Danone has teamed up
with Nobel Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus
in Grameen Danone to produce Shakti Doi -
a low-cost, highly nutritious eco-dairy
product produced and distributed using
local ingredients and skills.
Less Product, More Service
What is it?
Disruptive Shift your business from selling (material)
Innovation Cards
products, to offering (non-material) services.
This can reduce the overall footprint per unit
of service or profit.
* What would your product look like as a
service? How would you make your service
low-carbon and more efficient?
Examples:
- Streetcar’s self-service pay-as-you-go car
leasing service offers access to transport
without vehicle ownership.
- Oce UK offers a ‘Green Service’ in which it
looks after clients’ printing and paper
management – including mail and print
rooms - to reduce carbon emissions.

3. Sustainable Futures
What is it?
Disruptive Imagining the future is a powerful way to
Innovation Cards
shape what needs to happen today to
create a better, more profitable and
sustainable world. Starting from your
current business is likely to achieve only an
optimistic extrapolation of today.
* How could you use future scenarios to
innovate and then fold the innovations into
the present?
Examples:
- Philips explores sustainable business in
3-5 years via its brand promise, Simplicity
Tomorrow.
- Forum’s futures projects present scenarios
with sustainability factored in to help us
think more about the sort of future we want,
and how it can be achieved.
Breakthrough Technology
What is it?
Disruptive Green, clean, more efficient and sustainable
Innovation Cards
technology may be just around the corner.
Developments and breakthroughs can
supersede existing technologies, making
them redundant.
* What technologies should you track,
develop or amplify?
Examples:
- Compact fluorescent lamps and Light
Emitting Diodes are rapidly superseding
incandescent bulbs.
- Digital photography has disrupted the
technology of print photography.
- LG Electronics recently launched a
washing machine using steam, rather than
water, to clean clothes.

4. System Innovation
What is it?
Disruptive Businesses, products and services operate
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within a wider system which includes
suppliers and customers. By convening the
key players innovations can happen at the
system level, creating more change than you
can achieve alone.
* What system are you a part of and who
are the other players you need to engage?
Examples:
- Better Place is the world’s leading electric
vehicle services provider, helping to drive the
transition to sustainable transportation. It is
not a car company and works with
‘ecosystem players’ such as Renault,
Continental, Intel, Microsoft and Morgan
Stanley to create a compelling and
integrated solution.
Open Innovation
What is it?
Disruptive Opening up to external ideas can help you
Innovation Cards
make that leap to increase innovation
capabilities and find routes to market.
Methods include competitions, virtual
networks and external advisory panels.
* How and who should you open up to,
to disrupt for sustainability?
Examples:
- InterfaceFLOR uses an Innovations
Network of external sustainability experts to
help with ideas and innovation.
- IBM’s Jams for a Smarter Planet events
gather insights and ideas from nearly 2000
students and faculties worldwide about a
better future.

5. Competence Stretch
What is it?
Disruptive Your core competences and sustainability
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expertise could be used in new ways to serve
sustainable development goals.
* How would you stretch your core
competences to tackle a sustainability
challenge?
Examples:
- Carpet manufacturer and sustainability
leader InterfaceFLOR has begun offering its
sustainability expertise and know-how as
consultancy through its innovative
InterfaceRAISE service.
New Alliances
What is it?
Disruptive Networks, partnerships, consortiums and
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coalitions offer opportunities to collaborate
and co-develop, encouraging innovation
within a much wider field making for greater
impact.
* What is your sustainability alliance and
what challenges would you tackle?
Examples:
- WalMart has partnered with Dell and
EClinicalWorks in an interactive business
model to offer physicians a holistic
healthcare IT package.
- ICI Paints (supplier) teamed up with
Carillion (constructor) and Forum
(sustainability experts) to improve the sus-
tainability of paint throughout its lifecycle.

6. Gate-Crashing Another Sector
What is it?
Disruptive Transfer your technology to a new sector or
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completely different sustainability challenge.
* Where and how would you disrupt another
sector to drive sustainability?
Examples:
- Google is disappointed with the lack of
breakthrough investment ideas in the green
technology sector so the company is devel-
oping its own new mirror technology which
could cut the cost of building solar thermal
plants by a quarter or more
Innovators Inside
What is it?
Disruptive Nurturing innovators and change makers
Innovation Cards
inside your organisation - your intrapreneurs
– to up the ante on sustainable innovation.
* How would you identify and develop your
internal sustainability innovators?
Examples:
- Unilever Ventures is an innovative
partnership with a venture capitalist. It
incubates promising ideas and technologies
with one foot inside Unilever and one
outside.
- 3M adopted the ‘15% rule’ to drive
innovation: technical staff spend up to 15%
of time on projects of their own choosing.

7. Entrepreneurs
What is it?
Disruptive New entrants with radical new innovations
Innovation Cards
can come into a market, and ‘creatively
destroy’ incumbents.
* How will you handle new sustainability
entrants - will you watch, borrow, buy or
partner?
Examples:
- Entrepreneurs like Cafedirect (certified
beverages) and Abel & Cole (home delivery
of ‘sustainable’ food) are changing the way
we produce and distribute food, and making
this the mainstream.
- Innocent has helped create the market for
healthy and sustainable smoothies.