Slow Down or Perish: Why economic degrowth could be our greatest innovation
- Rita
- Aug 29
- 3 min read
In a world obsessed with growth, where every performance indicator seems tied to “faster, higher, stronger,” economist Timothée Parrique throws a thought-provoking challenge with his book Ralentir ou Périr.
This work, a bestseller in France, asks an unsettling question: What if our relentless race forward is precisely what is driving us toward collapse?
At NETO Innovation, we work daily on projects that transform our economy toward sustainability, efficiency, and social fairness. This book is is an invitation to rethink our relationship with innovation, productivity, and value creation.
About the Author – Timothée Parrique
Timothée Parrique is a French economist specializing in ecological economics and the post-growth economy. He holds a PhD in economics and has conducted extensive research on the compatibility or incompatibility between economic growth and environmental preservation.
In Ralentir ou Périr, he distills over a decade of research to demonstrate that economic degrowth does not mean chaos or recession, but a deliberate choice to organize society around quality rather than quantity.
The core message of Ralentir ou Périr: Questioning endless growth
Parrique critically examines a widely held contemporary assumption: that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth inherently equates to societal advancement. This belief ignores a critical fact: our planet has physical limits. Extracting, producing, and consuming ever more inevitably leads to resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and irreversible climate disruption.
He shows that the promises of green growth - the idea that we can decouple economic expansion from environmental impact - are often misleading.Efficiency gains are consistently offset by the rebound effect: producing more efficiently paradoxically leads to more overall consumption, erasing ecological benefits.
Economic degrowth: A blueprint for the future
Far from being a punitive strategy, the economic degrowth outlined by Parrique is a collective redesign of our priorities.
It rests on four key pillars:
Reduce unnecessary production: Focus resources on what truly contributes to well-being.
Redistribute fairly: Ensure universal access to essential needs.
Relocalize: Bring production closer to consumption to reduce ecological impact.
Dematerialize: Favor services, repair, and shared use over ownership.
In this vision, degrowth is a catalyst for innovation driving the creation of circular economic models, modular and repairable products, low-tech solutions, and shared services.
A call for responsible innovation
For a company like NETO Innovation, Slow Down or Perish delivers a clear message:innovation should not be solely about pushing productivity limits, but about reinventing the frameworks in which it operates.
In the energy transition, this means prioritizing local renewable sources, optimizing energy efficiency, and rethinking demand instead of endlessly increasing supply.
In industry, it means developing recyclable materials, integrating eco-design from the Research and Development (R&D) stage, and enabling reuse loops.
In Research, development, and Innovation project management, it means assessing each innovation’s overall impact, not just its market potential.
Practical examples from the book
Parrique provides examples across sectors where degrowth can be applied:
Mobility: Instead of focusing only on electric cars, reduce car dependency through cycling infrastructure and robust public transport.
Food systems: Shift from intensive agriculture to regenerative, local, and seasonal farming.
Technology: Slow down planned obsolescence, extend product lifespans, and promote open-source software.
These are not distant utopias. They already exist today, proving that slowing down does not mean falling behind, but investing energy where it matters most.
Why this book matters now
In the face of climate emergency and widening inequality, betting on unlimited growth means ignoring scientific warnings. The economic degrowth that Parrique proposes is not about halting economic activity, but about redirecting our creativity and resources toward what truly matters.
For innovative companies, this is an opportunity to:
Measure environmental impact from the earliest design stages.
Adopt circular and regenerative economic models.
Redefine value beyond financial metrics.
Integrating degrowth principles into Research, Development, and Innovation projects
If you are leading a European project, R&D program, or regional initiative, degrowth principles can guide your decisions:
Design phase: Integrate socio-environmental impact criteria into specifications.
Development phase: Minimize non-renewable inputs and optimize resource use.
Deployment phase: Promote low-impact, collaborative, and durable uses.
As a specialist in innovation funding, NETO Innovation can help you structure these approaches to increase funding success while strengthening your societal contribution.
Conclusion: Slowing down to innovate better
Slow Down or Perish is not a plea for inaction, it is a manifesto for innovation aligned with planetary limits and the real needs of people. By integrating economic degrowth principles into your projects, you prepare your organization to meet 21st-century challenges with resilience, social legitimacy, and environmental responsibility.
Want to integrate degrowth principles into your innovation projects and maximize funding opportunities?
📩 Contact NETO Innovation today, subscribe to our blog, and follow us on LinkedIn to stay at the forefront of responsible innovation.
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