02220nas a2200253   4500008004100000022001400041245008100055210006900136260004200205300001000247490000600257520142300263653003401686653001501720653002001735653001401755653003101769653003101800653003401831100002401865700002001889700001901909856003801928       2019                        eng d  a1927-032100aThe SDG-Check: Guiding Open Innovation towards Sustainable Development Goals0 aSDGCheck Guiding Open Innovation towards Sustainable Development  aOttawabTalent First Networkc03/2019  a20-370 v93 aThe “fuzzy front end” of innovation is argued to be crucial for the success and sustainability impact of a final product. Indeed, it is a promising area of focus in efforts to achieve the United Nations’ 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which provide a globally accepted framework for sustainability. However, the usability of the 17 goals and the large number of sub-goals represent barriers to innovation practitioners. Moreover, this early innovation stage proves to be a challenge for corporate practitioners and innovators, largely due to the concept’s intangible, qualitative nature and the lack of data. To help overcome these barriers, this article proposes a four-stage approach for structuring the innovation process using an online tool called the “SDG-Check”, which help assess an innovator’s sustainability orientation in the early phases of product and service development. It is a semi-quantitative tool to gather and combine assessments by experts involved in innovation processes with implications for the United Nations’ SDGs. Furthermore, this article presents our first experiences in applying the SDG-Check based on three living lab innovation cases. The results indicate that the tools can support and inspire a dialogue with internal and external stakeholders with regards to sustainability considerations in the early design stages of product and service development. 10afuzzy front end of innovation10aLiving lab10aOpen innovation10aSDG-Check10asustainability assessments10asustainability inspiration10asustainable development goals1 avon Geibler, Justus1 aPiwowar, Julius1 aGreven, Annika  uhttps://timreview.ca/article/1222