[Editor’s note: General Electric’s Mark Little, senior vice president and director of GE Global Research, provided this guest column today as the company releases its fifth annual citizenship report. For coverage of the report, see articles by GreenBiz.com Senior Writer Marc Gunther and our news staff.]

GE's founder and one of the world's most prolific inventors, Thomas Edison, captured it best when he said, “I find out what the world needs. Then, I go ahead and invent it.”

The mission of our scientists and engineers is to develop and deliver new technologies that help our company grow.  As we strive to meet this commitment, we know that technology won't have any business value unless it answers a critical need. This is where innovation and corporate responsibility go hand in hand.

If you look at two of GE's biggest companywide initiatives, ecomagination and healthymagination, they are both focused on addressing big needs for the environment, energy and healthcare.

The world has been through dramatic changes in the past year. With the collapse of the financial markets and one of the worst global recessions in recent history, we have seen the business community go through a reset.

Today, the challenges we face in healthcare and sustainable energy are greater than ever. It's especially during times like these when companies have a responsibility to their customers, investors and the larger global community to invest and drive new innovations. This will not only make money for your company; it will enable you to solve problems for the greater good.

But being a good corporate citizen is more than just what you are contributing. The integrity you bring to your business operations is every bit as important. That is why we place such a high importance on outreach and transparency with our ecomagination and healthymagination initiatives. We work with partners across government, academia and private industry to develop and deliver new products and solutions. New products classified under these initiatives must be certified by a third party as meeting the desired goals for the environment or for health care. Also, we regularly inform the public on progress being made with these initiatives.

Recognizing key technology and societal trends is another major factor influencing how GE drives innovation to improve our businesses and be good corporate citizens.

A great example is GE's Ecoassessment Center of Excellence.  The center was established at Global Research to discover new frontiers in assessing and managing a product's environmental footprint throughout the product’s entire lifecycle. To achieve this we have formed a dedicated, multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers to systematically develop better, more energy efficient ways to design and manage products.

GE researchers have played a critical role in the technology developments, which have been responsible for the product success and growth of ecomagination. In addition to driving new green technology developments, GE has a dedicated team working to make technology product development processes even greener.

Innovation has many drivers. The Ecoassessment Center of Excellence and our efforts through ecomagination and healthymagination are great examples of how the need to solve big problems and be responsible corporate citizens can spark new innovative solutions that grow companies.

During these difficult economic times, this kind of innovation is just the remedy we need to help bring our economy back.

Today GE launched “Resetting Responsibilities,” its 2008 Corporate Citizenship Report, recapping the company's corporate responsibility.

Mark Little is senior vice president and director of GE Global Research.

_{Images courtesy of GE.}