Corporate alignment to innovation and knowledge: detecting patterns in multidimensional impact across global industries

This study examines the impact of a commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 9 (SDG 9) objectives by exploring sectoral and regional disparities in how companies aligned with this goal leverage digital technologies and knowledge, foster innovation ecosystems, and deliver measurable contributions to sustainable infrastructure development. Using the SDG-aligned revenue share as the main metric for SDGs commitment across 5,323 global companies provided by the Upright platform, we employed a machine-learning-based k-means clustering algorithm to detect patterns of net impacts created across the Society, Knowledge, Health, and Environment (SKHE) dimensions. We also uncovered sectoral and geographical patterns of the companies investigated. Our findings show that alignment with SDG 9 (Industry, Knowledge, and Innovation) is associated with corporate commitment to SKHE dimensions, as well as sectoral and, to some extent, geographical scope. The results offer practical implications for investors, policymakers designing regulations and guidelines to improve sustainability disclosure, and company executives who are developing sustainability strategies.