Introduction
Energy plays a fundamental role in achieving sustainable development. However, the global sustainable energy supply still faces significant challenges. Like many countries in the world, Iran also has encountered fundamental challenges in the energy sector, Despite Iran's abundant fossil and renewable energy capacities. Overcoming these challenges is essential for realizing sustainable development. Innovation is a necessary driver of change in the field of energy. However, innovation without an innovation strategy can be ineffective, as the innovation process involves risks and difficult decisions. Therefore, this research aimed to analyze Iran's national development plans in terms of sustainable development and innovation strategy in the energy industry.
Methodology
The current research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in terms of nature. In terms of strategy, this research has used the library strategy. The current research has used the content analysis method to analyze the collected data and the inductive-deductive coding approach to reduce and categorize the data. This research benefited from Quantitative content analysis and Co-occurrence analysis. To perform the coding process, MaxQDA version 20 software was used. The statistical population of the research was the documents of the national development plans of Iran. The current research has studied the entire statistical population. Therefore, sampling not required. The implementation process started with theoretical studies and analysis of previous research related to innovation strategy and sustainable development. This was done to deepen the theoretical knowledge about the studied concepts and also to identify and define the research concepts and categories. In the next step, the research questions were formulated. The next stage is devoted to the review of the documents and documents of the national development plans. After this, the collected qualitative data was analyzed. In the last stage, summarization and conclusions were made and research proposals were presented. In this research, to ensure the validity and reliability of the research findings, the validity and reliability of the data were examined. For this purpose, data coding was done carefully and in several stages at different times. Also, some experienced experts in the field of energy and sustainable development re-examined the research results. To be more sure of the reliability of the research findings, the calculation of agreement between two coders or reliability between two coders has also been used.
Results and Discussion
The findings include that the writing and formulation of development plans in Iran have been mainly centered around economic growth. In other words, concepts related to social inclusiveness and environmental protection have been neglected in Iran's development plans. The evidence shows that Iran's development plans have paid significant attention to fossil energies as opposed to renewable energies. In addition to environmental hazards, this can be a serious threat to energy security in Iran. The findings show that despite the relatively high attention of Iran's development plans to the concept of technology, the concept of innovation has not been given much attention. additionally, the emphasis on technological innovation can cause neglect of the benefits of non-technological innovations.
Conclusion
The study aimed to analyze Iran's national development plans in terms of sustainable development and innovation strategy in the energy industry. A content analysis of the documents was conducted, assigning 993 codes related to innovation, sustainable development, strategy, and energy. The study identified three gaps in previous research: limited focus on the complexities of achieving sustainable development in different societies, unclear relationship between national development plans and sustainable development goals, and insufficient attention to the technological and human aspects of innovation strategy. The study addressed these gaps by considering Iran's contextual conditions, examining the alignment of sustainable development goals and innovation, and emphasizing both technological and human aspects of innovation. In conclusion, sustainable development has gained significant attention as a means to achieve sustainable development while preserving natural resources and future interests. Many countries have aligned their national development plans with sustainable development goals. However, the study found that Iran's development plans have primarily emphasized economic growth at the expense of social inclusiveness and environmental preservation. The energy sector plans have disproportionately focused on fossil fuels and this poses risks to energy security and the environment. Non-technological innovations have been neglected despite a strong emphasis on technology acquisition. Additionally, Iran's development plans lack a strategic approach to innovation, which is crucial for clean energy and sustainability. The study highlights a historical lack of attention to sustainable development concepts in Iran's plans. Overall, there is a growing global trend toward integrating sustainable development as a comprehensive and fundamental concept in national development plans. Following the path of the current research, it is suggested that future researchers use quantitative methods to investigate the impact of innovation strategies on sustainable development in the energy industry. In addition, the realization of the country's development plans can be examined with quantitative methods.