System Innovation for Sustainability 3

System Innovation for Sustainability 3
Author: Ursula Tischner
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2017-09-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1351279343

Focuses on providing answers to the question of how food production and consumption systems can stay within the limits of the carrying capacity of our natural environment. This work also considers the challenges of food security and nutrition in the context of sustainability and a growing world population.

System Innovation and the Transition to Sustainability

System Innovation and the Transition to Sustainability
Author: Boelie Elzen
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781845423421

Modern societies face several structural problems such as transport congestion and greenhouse gas emissions due to the widespread use of fossil fuels. To address these important societal problems and achieve sustainability in the broad sense, major transformations are required, but this poses an enormous challenge given the complexity of the processes involved. Such transformations are called 'transitions' or 'system innovations' and involve changes in a variety of elements, including technology, regulation, user practices and markets, cultural meaning and infrastructure. This book considers two main questions: how do system innovations or transitions come about and how can they be influenced by different actors, in particular by governments. The authors identify the theories which can be used to conceptualise the dynamics of system innovations and discuss the weaknesses in these theories. They also look at the lessons which can be learned from historical examples of transitions, and highlight the instruments and policy tools which can be used to stimulate future system innovations towards sustainability. The expert contributors address these questions using insights from a variety of different disciplines including innovation studies, evolutionary economics, the sociology of technology, environmental analysis and governance studies. The book concludes with an extensive summary of the results and practical suggestions for future research. This important new volume offers an interdisciplinary assessment of how and why system innovations occur. It will engage and inform academics and researchers interested in transitions towards sustainability, and will also be highly relevant for policymakers concerned with environmental issues, structural change and radical innovation.

Eco-Innovation and Sustainability Management

Eco-Innovation and Sustainability Management
Author: Bart Bossink
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2013-03-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1136680799

Sustainability is a phenomenon that must be pursued in a complex system of interrelated elements of business, society, and ecology. It is important to gain an understanding of these elements, the interplay between them, and the behavior of the system. This book explores the business-societal-and-ecological system in which sustainable innovation has to be envisioned, conceptualized, realized, and improved. Author Bart Bossink offers insight into the systematic coherence of drivers of eco-innovation and sustainability utilizing a three-part approach: (1) eco- and sustainable innovation in business is based on ideas and people who cooperatively develop these ideas; (2) groups of people, organized in commercial firms, must realize these ideas cooperatively and create the innovations that can conquer the market; and (3) that people from governmental, non-governmental, not-for-profit, research, and commercial organizations can build institutional arrangements that stimulate these sustainable innovations, changing both industry and society. Adopting a managerial perspective and discussing concepts and methods to manage eco-innovation in business, this book highlights the interrelated roles of the individual, the firm, partnerships, and business environments. Researchers and practitioners who want to combine a commercial and economical approach with an ethical and social ambition to create an ecologically sustainable firm stand to learn much from these pages.

Smart Quintuple Helix Innovation Systems

Smart Quintuple Helix Innovation Systems
Author: Elias G. Carayannis
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 71
Release: 2018-11-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3030015173

This volume examines the relationships among social ecology, innovation, sustainable development and economic growth. The Quintuple Helix innovation model focuses on the interactions among five key elements of society: academia, industry, government, culture, and the environment--with particular respect to harnessing knowledge to promote social, political, and economic development. The Quintuple Helix is a powerful theoretical and practical lens for analyzing and understanding such critical and complex ecological and socioeconomic issues as global warming and climate change and their implications for sustainability. The authors provide policy approaches and strategies to help create a balance among the often competing forces of environmental protection, innovation, entrepreneurship, and social and economic growth that will successfully benefit society and protect democratic values.

Indicator Systems for Sustainable Innovation

Indicator Systems for Sustainable Innovation
Author: Jens Horbach
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2006-03-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3790816205

In the recent past, environmental innovations have led to a considerable reduction of many pollutants; however, further innovation is required to tackle remaining pollution sources. This work analyses the significance and the effects of framework conditions on innovation activities that contribute to the realisation of a sustainable development. The book links the experiences of different research projects with the aim to develop a system of indicators to evaluate sustainable effects of (environmental) innovations. A comprehensive framework for an indicator system is established that allows to include different environmental innovation fields such as process innovations in the steel production, substitution of dangerous chemicals, organisational innovations in the field of waste disposal or sustainable water management.

System Innovation for Sustainability 2

System Innovation for Sustainability 2
Author: Theo Geerken
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2017-09-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1351279386

The EU-funded project "Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges" (SCORE!) consists of around 200 experts in the field of sustainable innovation and sustainable consumption. The SCORE! philosophy is that innovation in SCP (sustainable consumption and production) policy can be achieved only if experts that understand business development, (sustainable) solution design, consumer behaviour and system innovation policy work together in shaping it. Sustainable technology design can be effective only if business can make the products profitably and consumers are attracted to them. To understand how this might effectively happen, the expertise of systems thinkers must be added to the mix. The publication in 2008 of System Innovation for Sustainability 1 was the first result of a unique positive confrontation between experts from all four communities. It examined what SCP is and what it could be, provided a state-of-the-art review on the governance of change in SCP policy and looked at the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches. System Innovation for Sustainability 2 is the first of three books of case studies covering, respectively, the three key consumption areas of: mobility; food and agriculture; and energy use and housing. These three areas are responsible for 70% of the life-cycle environmental impacts of Western societies. These case studies aim to stimulate, foster or force change to SCP theory in practice. System Innovation for Sustainability 2 focuses on change towards sustainable personal mobility based on implemented cases analysed from a system perspective. It examines what changes can be made to help us reduce our need for mobility, or start to make use of more sustainable mobility systems. This is clearly a critical and highly problematic area, as increasing living standards of a growing global population have resulted in rapid rises in both car and air travel along with the associated pollution. Uniquely, this book approaches the problems and solutions from a systems perspective, explaining the meta-trends, specific issues for the mobility sector, socioeconomic trends, political considerations, socio-cultural developments and environmental issues. As well as the mobility system itself, other societal systems that impact the need for mobility, such as labour and taxation, are addressed in order to provide sustainable solutions to our current "lock-in" problems. Three major problem areas are considered (the "three Cs"): carbon emissions (and the growing contribution of mobility to the climate change crisis), congestion, and casualties. And each strategy proposed addresses one or more of these problem areas. Among the cases discussed are: Norway's carbon compensation scheme for air travel; Madrid's high-occupancy vehicle lanes; London's congestion charge scheme; market-based instruments such as eco-labelling for cars; and taxation. The book identifies opportunities for actors such as governments, manufacturers and consumers to intervene in the complex system to promote sustainable mobility. It concludes with a reflection on problems, trends and action needed. The System Innovation for Sustainability series is the fruit of the first major international research network on SCP and will set the standard in this field for some years to come. It will be required reading for all involved in the policy debate on sustainable production and consumption from government, business, academia and NGOs for designers, scientists, businesses and system innovators.

System Innovation for Sustainability 1

System Innovation for Sustainability 1
Author: Arnold Tukker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 482
Release: 2017-09-08
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 135128018X

Sustainable consumption and production (SCP) was adopted as a priority area during the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 and has since become one of the main vehicles for targeting international sustainability policy. Sustainable consumption focuses on formulating equitable strategies that foster the highest quality of life, the efficient use of natural resources, and the effective satisfaction of human needs while simultaneously promoting equitable social development, economic competitiveness, and technological innovation. But this is a complex topic and, as the challenges of sustainability grow larger, there is a need to re-imagine how SCP policies can be formulated, governed and implemented. The EU-funded project "Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges" (SCORE!) consists of around 200 experts in the field of sustainable innovation and sustainable consumption. The SCORE! philosophy is that innovation in SCP policy can be achieved only if experts that understand business development, (sustainable) solution design, consumer behaviour and system innovation policy work together in shaping it. Sustainable technology design can be effective only if business can profitably make the products and consumers are attracted to them. To understand how this might effectively happen, the expertise of systems thinkers must be added to the mix. System Innovation for Sustainability 1 is the first result of a unique positive confrontation between experts from all four communities. It examines what SCP is and what it could be, provides a state-of-the-art review on the governance of change in SCP policy and looks at the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches. The SCORE! experts are working with actors in industry, consumer groups and eco-labelling organisations in the key consumption areas of mobility, food and agriculture, and energy use and housing – responsible for 70% of the life-cycle environmental impacts of Western societies – with the aim of stimulating, fostering or forcing change to SCP theory in practice. The System Innovation for Sustainability series will continue with three further volumes of comprehensive case studies in each of these three critical consumption areas. Each chapter of this book examines problems and suggests solutions from a business, design, consumer and system innovation perspective. It primarily examines the differing solutions necessary in the consumer economies of the West, but also comments on the differing needs in rapidly emerging economies such as China, as well as base-of-the-pyramid economies. The System Innovation for Sustainability series is the fruit of the only major international research network on SCP and will set the standard in this field for some years to come. It will be required reading for all involved in the policy debate on sustainable production and consumption from government, business, academia and NGOs for designers, scientists, businesses and system innovators.

Case Studies in Sustainable Consumption and Production

Case Studies in Sustainable Consumption and Production
Author: Saadi Lahlou
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Agricultural innovations
ISBN: 9781906093259

The EU-funded project Sustainable Consumption Research Exchanges (SCORE ) consists of around 200 experts in the field of sustainable innovation and sustainable consumption. The SCORE philosophy is that innovation in SCP policy can be achieved only if experts that understand business development, (sustainable) solution design, consumer behaviour and system innovation policy work together in shaping it. Sustainable technology design can be effective only if business can profitably make the products and consumers are attracted to them. To understand how this might effectively happen, the expertise of systems thinkers must be added to the mix.

ICT Innovations for Sustainability

ICT Innovations for Sustainability
Author: Lorenz M. Hilty
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 465
Release: 2014-08-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319092286

ICT Innovations for Sustainability is an investigation of how information and communication technology can contribute to sustainable development. It presents clear definitions of sustainability, suggesting conceptual frameworks for the positive and negative effects of ICT on sustainable development. It reviews methods of assessing the direct and indirect impact of ICT systems on energy and materials demand, and examines the results of such assessments. In addition, it investigates ICT-based approaches to supporting sustainable patterns of production and consumption, analyzing them at various levels of abstraction – from end-user devices, Internet infrastructure, user behavior, and social practices to macro-economic indicators. Combining approaches from Computer Science, Information Systems, Human-Computer Interaction, Economics, and Environmental Sciences, the book presents a new, holistic perspective on ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S). It is an indispensable resource for anyone working in the area of ICT for Energy Efficiency, Life Cycle Assessment of ICT, Green IT, Green Information Systems, Environmental Informatics, Energy Informatics, Sustainable HCI, or Computational Sustainability.