Resumo

This study presents the case of a small innovative Brazilian firm that is based on the principles of continuous improvement and sustainable development (Environmental-Social-Economic) to structure its business model, develop new products and processes. The firm uses scientific knowledge management to innovate based on sustainability that contributes to achieving 7 of the 17 SDG – Sustainable Development Goals (SDG3, SDG7, SDG8, SDG9, SDG10, SDG12, and SDG13) proposed by the United Nations (2015).

The company's founder started its activities in 2013 with an ice cream shop, in which it produced a natural grated coconut to serve as an option for its products. Within the first year, it was possible to identify the opportunity in the commercialization of natural grated coconut and the firm started the production of this product. As there was no equipment on the market for the processing of natural grated coconut for small companies, the company invested in R&D from the beginning to perform the adaptation and development of the required equipment for this operation to become feasible.

Upon entering a market dominated by large companies (many of them with extensive manufacturing facilities and more than 500 employees), the small company realized that much of the equipment needed for the efficient processing of its products did not exist in the market, so it started to invest in R&D for the development of the industrial equipment that needed. The main problem identified was that, when analyzing its processes, the company verified that its "production bottleneck" or restriction (the process that limits the production capacity) was the coconut-breaking process.

The company sought external partnerships to form a specialized and technical team consisting of a Production Engineer (Master in Strategy and Doctoral Student in Innovation and Technology Management), Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Ph.D. Professor of the Mechanical Engineering course with experience in the development of solar technology equipment, Mechanical Engineer with experience in the development of solar technology equipment, and other Ph.D. Professors in the area of Chemistry and Materials for future projects with the use of by-products from coconut.

The company's participation in the food market grows and consolidates. At the same time, it sees the possibility of highly accelerated growth of the other businesses in which it participates, which were only possible through investment in R&D and Innovation, with the team-building highly skilled technique where each one assumes the role inherent to their specialization. The strategy used allows the company to have a portfolio of projects, in which the cost of executing each project, development time, and the financial benefits from each initiative are analyzed.

The techno-social contribution was presented according to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study presents how innovation focused on sustainability contributes to achieving the SDG 3 – Good health and well-being, SDG 7 – Affordable and clean energy, SDG 8 –Decent work and economic growth, SDG 9 – Industry, innovation, and infrastructure, SDG 10 – Reduce inequalities, SDG 12 – Responsible consumption and production, and SDG 13 –Climate action (United Nations, 2015).