Fraunhofer IESE »SusAF Extreme«

"SusAF Extreme" workshop at a glance

Goals

Our services are designed to help companies understand, evaluate, and optimize the impact of digital solutions on sustainability.

The approach is tailored to:

• Companies developing new digital solutions – We help them identify sustainability risks and opportunities early in the design phase so they can refine their concepts before market launch and immediately benefit from more sustainable, responsible solutions.
• Companies that operate digital solutions or platforms – We help them uncover, understand, and address the potential sustainability impacts of their existing solutions with the goal of reducing threats and seizing new opportunities.

SusAF Extreme builds on SusAF (the sustainability awareness framework proposed by the Karlskrona Group) and was developed specifically for assessing the sustainability of digital ecosystems.

To ensure a holistic approach, SusAF Extreme includes a legal dimension that explicitly takes into account the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) – important frameworks for responsible digital innovation. Furthermore, it can be seamlessly integrated into Fraunhofer IESE's Tangible Ecosystem Design (TED) approach for designing innovative digital ecosystems.

Approach

SusAF Extreme invites your team to navigate the complex waters of sustainability in an exciting and insightful serious game. Designed as a one-day interactive workshop, the game provides participants with a structured yet dynamic environment in which they can explore the sustainability impacts of their digital solutions in a practical way.

What can you expect during the workshop?

• The groups are assigned sustainability dimensions and receive instructions on how to determine the potential impact of the digital solution under consideration on their respective sustainability dimensions.
• They evaluate the identified impacts and report back to the entire team. This results in a so-called “sailing conditions map,” on which all impacts are grouped according to the extent to which they advance or hinder the digital solution on the path to greater sustainability.
• The groups are encouraged to discover the cause-and-effect relationships between the impacts on the “sailing conditions map.” By uncovering these relationships, the groups complete the stages as if in a regatta. The regatta radar tracks every movement.
• If a group encounters an effect that could prevent the digital solution from advancing on the waters of sustainability, it can propose measures to remedy it.

The groups, or rather the crews, collect points in the various phases of the regatta. The winner is the crew with the most points at the end.
 

Workshop format

• Duration: 1 full day of hands-on activities, discussions, and guided sustainability assessments.   
• Facilitation: Two experienced facilitators with expertise in digital ecosystems, sustainability, and innovation will guide your team through the process.
• Location options: 
  • On-site at your company—we bring the experience directly to your team.
  • In our dedicated creative space – a stimulating and inspiring environment that encourages innovation and unconventional thinking.

By reducing the negative impact of your digital solution and taking advantage of new opportunities, you will benefit from the following advantages:

• A more attractive image for customers, business partners, and investors
• Reduced gaps in compliance with existing and expected future regulations
• Better opportunities in the competition for specific sustainability-related funding
• New business opportunities through the integration of sustainability into digital innovations
• Promotion of cross-functional collaboration by helping teams look beyond their silos and integrate holistic sustainability principles into the design of digital ecosystems.