Sustentabilidade empresarial: mapeamento de patentes na indústria de eletrodomésticos

Abstract

In recent decades, several anthropogenic environmental disasters have shifted focus towards the existential threat of climate change, which has been the driver of promoting environmental awareness across the globe. Accordingly, public and private institutions have to consider the environmental impacts in conjunction with the added value aspect in their research, development and innovation activities to reach a more sustainable future through key concepts like ecoefficiency and corporate responsibility. In order to combine such economic and environmental performances before commercial exploitation, organizations should carry out their research and development efforts as well as their patent protection strategically to deliver high added value products and prevent illegal reproduction by the competition. Thus, this study aims to identify the technological activities developed in the household appliance sector in the context of sustainability focusing on solutions to provide water reuse through treatments in washing machine, dishwasher machine and steam recycling in steam oven. The work was developed through an exploratory and qualitative analysis of published patents using the electronic database Orbit Intelligence Questel. The study also seeks to identify patents filed by household appliance manufacturers and compares their developed activities. Furthermore, the paper aims to verify the evolution of technological areas related to the sector and their respective countries where patent applications were submitted, finally disclosing the results obtained to a leading company in the household appliance sector, using the technological surveillance method in the analysis and collection of information that can promote strategic decisions in their process. The results suggest that water treatment and reuse technologies play a critical role in mitigating environmental impacts by assisting in the water and energy economy, thereby contributing to sustainable economic development. In addition, the importance of technological surveillance, which allows for the monitoring of different players' strategies and the identification of market niches for the promotion of innovation and business opportunities in the household appliance segment, cannot be overstated. Due to rising environmental consciousness, the number of patents issued for water treatment and reuse is likely to rise in the coming years.