Sustainable Technology Development in Product and Service Designs

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which included what is now one of the most widely recognized definitions: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". However, the needs of the present are vast and often conflicting. Today, technology plays a significant role in sustainable development in all of its aspects: social, environmental, and economic. By maintaining our way of life in a way that does not deplete our resources, we are ensuring that future generations will also be able to sustain themselves. In accordance with the above, sustainable technology development is urgently needed in order to fulfill the increasing demand of product and service due to population and market growth. New methods and approaches to search for sustainable technological solutions in product and service designs are required to fulfill this demand. Delivering sustainability means finding ways to meet our needs by stimulating innovation processes, as a pivotal role, in sustainable technology development. Many papers published in IJTech strongly represent the use of sustainable technology in product and service designs. They show lessons learned on how technology application and development have been utilized to comply with the principles of social, economic, and ecology.