Kaumera is a material made from wastewater treatment and has shown promising characteristic as a flame retardant. In this research report we aimed to bridge the gap between academia and commerce by analysing the potential of Kaumera using a generalised framework of Sustainable Business Model Innovation and the Lean Startup Methodology. The named models were researched through the method of research through design. Using the SBMI framework of Bocken (2019) a startup was proposed and compared to the Lean Startup Methodology. As defined by the SBMI framework, the symbiotic dependencies were identified to be the producers of Kaumera, the clients of the company, the IP owners, academics involved and potential partners. The neutral dependency is related to legislation and legislative bodies, and the competitive dependency are competitors. Furthermore, it was analysed how the assumptions could be validated by the company for the early-stage, scaling and diversification and internationalisation phases of the company.
The results found that Kaumera is a feasible flame retardant both in a commercial and sustainability perspective. It was found that the SMBI framework focusses too much on the sustainability aspect to be truly a viable Business Model approach for startups and does not allow for flexible and adjustable business strategies. For this reason, a combination with the Lean methodology can be applied to overcome the shortcomings of the SBMI framework. This research report shows that the Lean methodology complements the aspects of SBMI which are not suited for startups. This research report therefore suggests the use of a framework based on Lean incorporating generalised aspects of SBMI as an effective and flexible sustainable business model for startups.

There is a rising concern on the sustainability of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) desalination. In this study, Multi-criteria Decision-making (MCDM) is applied to compare the sustainability performance of various ZLD scenarios, which is part of a Strong Sustainability (SS) assessment of desalination. ZLD desalination systems are considered to be complex and have intricate interdependence among various factors, which were seldom recognized in previous research. The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of interdependence among criteria on the MCDM process, with a desalination case study from Water Mining project used for demonstration. A transparent MCDM methodology is proposed in this study, which consists of Best Worst Method – Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (BWM-DEMATEL), hierarchical clustering, and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations (PROMETHEE).
In the desalination case study, the use of hierarchical clustering allows for the identification and preservation of both majority and minority opinions, based on which, the same ranking of desalination scenarios is produced through PROMETHEE. Concerning the interdependence among criteria, the results reveal that it can help identify the crucial factors for improvement of sustainability performance of the alternatives. In addition, by considering it, the understanding of criteria is enhanced, which leads to more concentrated opinions of stakeholders in the desalination case. However, the findings indicate that the influence of incorporating the criteria independency on the final decisions is restricted in cases insensitive to weight variation.
The application of BWM-DEMATEL method is a complex and time-consuming activity. Considering the effectiveness and the cost of implementation, BWM-DEMATEL might be not as worthy of application in this case study. Inspired by this, it is meaningful to develop an approach to estimate the impact of the interdependence among criteria on the alternatives ranking in a certain decision problem in the future.