At Æra Strategic Innovation, we’ve been helping companies balance big-picture strategy with practical, creative innovations for sustainable growth since our foundation nine years ago. Here, Øystein Hagen, our Founder and CEO, shares why sustainability is a key driver, how to manage both short- and long-term goals, and what leaders need to know to elevate their innovation game in 2025.

Øystein, what does strategic innovation mean to Æra and your clients?

Strategic innovation may sound fancy, but it’s really just two things: setting a direction (that’s ‘strategy’) and creating new value (that’s ‘innovation’). Companies need to see where they can make a real difference by using their strengths to solve meaningful problems in fresh ways. For us, strategic innovation is structured but creative—it’s about spotting bigger opportunities, not just making small tweaks, so we can help build solutions with lasting impact. This approach means staying bold and pushing limits, not only in good times but even during times of uncertainty, polarization, or economic strain. At the end of the day, innovation is your insurance for staying relevant as a business.

How do you balance short-term gains with long-term goals?

There’s a saying that you can’t stack short-term wins and expect long-term success. Running a sustainable business means balancing bold, future-focused ideas with solid, day-to-day execution. Strong operations give you the flexibility to invest in tomorrow, while a clear strategy keeps short-term actions aligned with bigger goals. Balancing both is a big part of a CEO’s job—setting up the next wave of growth while managing the current one.

Today’s complex landscape can make it tough to prioritize long-term goals, but we help create space for that bigger picture, often by building on existing processes, like a new strategy period, double-materiality assessments, or finding opportunities to turn a waste stream into a value stream.

Along with dedicated strategic innovation processes, we also have team members skilled in driving innovation from within through interim roles, supporting the integration of new knowledge in areas like communications, brand, sustainability, strategy, and organization.

And how does sustainability play into all of this?

Back in the day, changing consumer needs was viewed as the dominant force for change in business. We will argue that’s not the case anymore. Sustainability, in the broad understanding of the word now impacts every part of society, from politics to technology, to economy to social tensions – and thus business. Whether that is the transition to renewable energy forms, industrial circularity for valuable material streams, renting and leasing models to bring down waste and drive new convenience for consumers, more efficient mobility, new technology to bring down cost and emissions in the construction industry, smarter city development, and so on. All this requires innovation, and all this represents huge business opportunities driven by the sustainability agenda.

Over the years new terms have evolved—from corporate social responsibility to sustainability, and now ESG—but our focus remains on helping clients innovate and create new value through new products, services, and solutions that serve both business and society.

One way to do that, is to use the newest regulations like the CSRD’s double-materiality assessments to identify where companies can have the greatest impact, turning sustainability into a core commercial investment, instead of just a compliance check. This shift is opening up more opportunities for impactful and meaningful innovation.

So from the beginning in ÆRA, we’ve aligned innovation with sustainability, which is why we’re now working on a range of exciting projects with companies that see what’s coming—like designing and implementing circular business models, social inclusion, sustainable packaging, opportunities within new regulations, and impact goal-setting, to name a few.

How has the approach to innovation changed, especially around collaboration?

Innovation used to be seen as a departmental project, but today’s challenges call for a wider approach across departments, industries, and even entire supply and value chains.

We now work collaboratively across all levels and scopes, starting with gathering insights and defining project goals alongside stakeholders. This ensures each project is well-anchored and clearly scoped before moving toward solutions. It helps us move faster and tackle larger-scale challenges.

We also spend a lot of time on continuously evolving our process management skills and sharing insights across teams and projects so clients can benefit from learnings across our work. Increasingly, we’re match-making clients with similar needs who can collaborate effectively.

I’m very proud of the ÆRA team, our partnerships, and the clients and leaders who trust us to support, lead, and facilitate a range of projects—all of which demonstrate that we can build a future better than the past. In times of multiple crises and overwhelming challenges, holding onto that belief feels more essential than ever.

How do you keep innovation a priority with other pressures?

When isn’t the right time to invest in your future? Whether things are good, bad, or just okay, the answer is always. Keeping innovation a priority requires a culture that encourages people to try new ideas without a lot of bureaucracy, while also setting up systems to ensure projects align with overall goals. The balance between freedom and structure keeps innovation moving forward, even when other things compete for attention.

What advice do you have for leaders who want to speed up innovation in 2025?

Strategic innovation is less about adding features, and more about using core capacity to solve needs that have a market value. Leaders need a clear strategy that sparks new ideas while keeping them aligned with the company’s mission. For 2025, I’d say bring your team into the process, set priorities that truly matter, and make the most of new sustainability requirements to navigate, and to create new value. Keep it agile, measurable, and collaborative so everyone feels connected to the bigger goals.