This paper will focus on the role of artists and designers as agents of change in sustainability innovation. We will analyse the characteristics of this role on the basis of a review of literature that discusses various concepts, methodologies and strategies applied by artists and designers in innovation processes. The paper will analyse two case studies in which artists and designers acted as agents of change and will discuss insights from these case studies in the light of the literature reviewed. We will then continue to investigate how certain characteristics of the involvement of artists and designers in innovation processes relate to the impact of the process on a social-, business- or product level. The paper will conclude with lessons learnt regarding the role of artists and designers as agents of change in innovation processes and will introduce directions for future research.
Over recent years aspects of sustainability have claimed a central role in many countries. As a result research for sustainability has become an important driver for innovation. This paper describes developing a model that supports SMEs in integrating sustainability in their business and innovation processes. In general innovation and entrepreneurship are important in the realm of national economies because they hold the key to the continuity and growth of companies and economic growth within a country. National governments are spending vast sums of money to enable and improve innovation management and entrepreneurial behaviour within organizations. This is also the case in The Netherlands. Partnerships involving universities (education), companies (preferably SMEs) and industrial associations (business) and representatives from governmental organizations (community) are stimulated and should be geared towards: the development of sustainable networks, a contribution to regional economic growth within sectors, the development of learning communities in which best practices are shared, knowledge circulates and knowledge is created through applied research and last but not least sustainable relations are developed between universities and the business community. Within the centre for innovation and entrepreneurship at our university we have taken the initiative to develop an innovation programme for entrepreneurs in the construction industry to help them integrate sustainability in their business processes, while simultaneously professionalizing students and teachers. Sustainability and concern for the environment are two of the main reasons for entrepreneurs to look for opportunities to innovate. Policy measures are aimed at reduction of CO2 emission, waste management and alternative use of energy sources and materials. In line with these measures companies are urged to integrate sustainability in their business processes and search for innovative sustainable solutions. This paper describes the experiences with a number of SMEs in the construction industry and the barriers entrepreneurs encounter on the road towards sustainability. We focus on the role of the entrepreneur in the process of sustainable innovation and development. We conducted exploratory research and through an organisational analysis and in-depth interviews with the owners/managers of the companies insight was gained in innovation processes towards sustainable development. Conclusions show that one of the main bottlenecks is the dilemma posed by the need for profit for the continuity of a company, while taking into account people and planet. The dilemmas of innovation are described as issues that need to be addressed and which influence the innovative capacity of companies and organizations. This paper deals with the underlying factors related to the dilemma between sustainability and growth/profit.
The role of (entrepreneurial) universities as change agents in regional economic development has been highlighted before, but how they can drive regional sustainable development in developing countries has been largely neglected hitherto. Using qualitative methods, we show how being confronted with adverse poverty and pollution in the local context, can drive a university to develop a sustainability vision that accordingly becomes the driver of institutional change. We demonstrate how local campus leadership, a holistic teaching and research program, and student involvement ensued significant local effects in the short run. Yet, we also show how liabilities of smallness hinders the creation of significant sustainable local impact. Instead, the campus became an incubation space for novel institutional practices for regional development. Indeed, the most promising initiatives were spun back into the original campus for their scale-up phase. This study advances insights on the entrepreneurial university by, first, presenting universities as drivers for sustainable change through education and outreach rather than via traditional commercialization activities, notably in developing countries. Second, it shows the risks and value of creating a separate space for novel concepts for sustainable development to be tested out before bringing these back to the principal location.
Teachers have a crucial role in bringing about the extensive social changes that are needed in the building of a sustainable future. In the EduSTA project, we focus on sustainability competences of teachers. We strengthen the European dimension of teacher education via Digital Open Badges as means of performing, acknowledging, documenting, and transferring the competencies as micro-credentials. EduSTA starts by mapping the contextual possibilities and restrictions for transformative learning on sustainability and by operationalising skills. The development of competence-based learning modules and open digital badge-driven pathways will proceed hand in hand and will be realised as learning modules in the partnering Higher Education Institutes and badge applications open for all teachers in Europe.Societal Issue: Teachers’ capabilities to act as active facilitators of change in the ecological transition and to educate citizens and workforce to meet the future challenges is key to a profound transformation in the green transition.Teachers’ sustainability competences have been researched widely, but a gap remains between research and the teachers’ practise. There is a need to operationalise sustainability competences: to describe direct links with everyday tasks, such as curriculum development, pedagogical design, and assessment. This need calls for an urgent operationalisation of educators’ sustainability competences – to support the goals with sustainability actions and to transfer this understanding to their students.Benefit to society: EduSTA builds a community, “Academy of Educators for Sustainable Future”, and creates open digital badge-driven learning pathways for teachers’ sustainability competences supported by multimodal learning modules. The aim is to achieve close cooperation with training schools to actively engage in-service teachers.Our consortium is a catalyst for leading and empowering profound change in the present and for the future to educate teachers ready to meet the challenges and act as active change agents for sustainable future. Emphasizing teachers’ essential role as a part of the green transition also adds to the attractiveness of teachers’ work.
Dit project richt zich op de ontwikkeling van de biotechnologische en chemische procesvoering om op basis van mycelium een alternatief voor leer te produceren. In vergelijking met leer is het voordeel van mycelium dat geen runderen nodig zijn, de productie kan plaatsvinden onder industriële condities en met gebruik van reststromen, de CO2 uitstoot alsook hoeveelheid afval verlaagd wordt, en het gebruik van toxische stoffen zoals chroom wordt vervangen door biobased alternatieven. In het project zullen de procescondities worden bepaald die leiden tot de vorming van optimaal mycelium. Daartoe zullen twee verschillende schimmels worden gekweekt in bioreactoren bij de Hogeschool Arnhem Nijmegen (HAN), waarbij specifiek de effecten van de procescondities (temperatuur, pH, shear, beluchting) en de samenstelling van het kweekmedium op groei van het mycelium en materiaal eigenschappen zullen worden onderzocht. De meest optimale condities zullen vervolgens worden opgeschaald. Op het op deze wijze verkregen materiaal zal Mylium BV een aantal nabehandelingsstappen uitvoeren om de sterkte, elasticiteit, en duurzaamheid van het product te vergroten. Daartoe worden biobased plasticizers, cross-linkers en/of flexibility agents gebruikt. Het resulterende eindproduct zal middels specifiek fysieke testen vergeleken worden met leer alsook worden voorgelegd aan mogelijke klanten. Indien beide resultaten positief zijn kan het betreffende proces na het project verder worden opgeschaald voor toepassing naar de markt.
Client: Foundation Innovation Alliance (SIA - Stichting Innovatie Alliantie) with funding from the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) Funder: RAAK (Regional Attention and Action for Knowledge circulation) The RAAK scheme is managed by the Foundation Innovation Alliance (SIA - Stichting Innovatie Alliantie) with funding from the ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). Early 2013 the Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport started work on the RAAK-MKB project ‘Carbon management for tour operators’ (CARMATOP). Besides NHTV, eleven Dutch SME tour operators, ANVR, HZ University of Applied Sciences, Climate Neutral Group and ECEAT initially joined this 2-year project. The consortium was later extended with IT-partner iBuildings and five more tour operators. The project goal of CARMATOP was to develop and test new knowledge about the measurement of tour package carbon footprints and translate this into a simple application which allows tour operators to integrate carbon management into their daily operations. By doing this Dutch tour operators are international frontrunners.Why address the carbon footprint of tour packages?Global tourism contribution to man-made CO2 emissions is around 5%, and all scenarios point towards rapid growth of tourism emissions, whereas a reverse development is required in order to prevent climate change exceeding ‘acceptable’ boundaries. Tour packages have a high long-haul and aviation content, and the increase of this type of travel is a major factor in tourism emission growth. Dutch tour operators recognise their responsibility, and feel the need to engage in carbon management.What is Carbon management?Carbon management is the strategic management of emissions in one’s business. This is becoming more important for businesses, also in tourism, because of several economical, societal and political developments. For tour operators some of the most important factors asking for action are increasing energy costs, international aviation policy, pressure from society to become greener, increasing demand for green trips, and the wish to obtain a green image and become a frontrunner among consumers and colleagues in doing so.NetworkProject management was in the hands of the Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport (CSTT) of NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences. CSTT has 10 years’ experience in measuring tourism emissions and developing strategies to mitigate emissions, and enjoys an international reputation in this field. The ICT Associate Professorship of HZ University of Applied Sciences has longstanding expertise in linking varying databases of different organisations. Its key role in CARMATOP was to create the semantic wiki for the carbon calculator, which links touroperator input with all necessary databases on carbon emissions. Web developer ibuildings created the Graphical User Interface; the front end of the semantic wiki. ANVR, the Dutch Association of Travel Agents and Tour operators, represents 180 tour operators and 1500 retail agencies in the Netherlands, and requires all its members to meet a minimum of sustainable practices through a number of criteria. ANVR’s role was in dissemination, networking and ensuring CARMATOP products will last. Climate Neutral Group’s experience with sustainable entrepreneurship and knowledge about carbon footprint (mitigation), and ECEAT’s broad sustainable tourism network, provided further essential inputs for CARMATOP. Finally, most of the eleven tour operators are sustainable tourism frontrunners in the Netherlands, and are the driving forces behind this project.
