The sixth wave of innovation: are we ready?

Organizations faced different development paths over the centuries, caused by changes in the competitive environment and the ability to respond to these changes. Such changes and choices can be analyzed from the perspective of innovation waves, responsible for changing the current competition structure and present a new competitive format for organizations. By observing the existing five waves of innovation, we can see a significant jump in development for companies that well understood the context of the new wave and competitive problems for other companies, even leaders in their market were “swept” off the competitive landscape. There are indications that a sixth wave of innovation is coming and who is guided by the sustainability, since the depletion of resources can cause many companies and countries conquer higher competitive performance to seek innovative solutions to the problem and those that fail to do so may have a loss of competitiveness. Given the aforementioned context, this theoretical essay aims to discuss sustainability as the sixth wave of innovation and how it can affect organizations. It is expected that the article raises a reflection about this phenomenon and serve as a starting point for future discussions.