The Sustainable Business & Innovation Lab will support new businesses focused on alternative energy and more efficient manufacturing approaches while also looking to help start-ups that promote healthy lifestyles. It will also explore financing partnerships with government and nongovernment organizations.

At this stage, financial details of the budget available to the venture capital and private equity managers to run the lab have not been announced. Importantly, all investments will need to be approved by management.

“Our challenge now is to innovate consistently and systematically throughout our business; from design to manufacturing to marketplace to recapturing, recycling and reusing,” Nike said on its website. “To bring discipline and focus to this quest for systemic change, we've created our "Innovation Lab" with the mission to deliver enterprise- and industry-level sustainability solutions.”