New Series: introducing 'Innovation and Sustainability in Business'.
Introducing this SubStack series. Introducing 'Innovation and Sustainability in Business'. The ten lectures.
This short SubStack series gives a weekly key insight from the Masters module I co-teach on 'Innovation and Sustainability in Business'. The Atelier of What's Next WeekNotes continue in parallel.
This week:
Introducing this SubStack series.
Introducing 'Innovation and Sustainability in Business'
The ten lectures.
UCL as I left the first lecture on Mon 8 January 2024.
Introducing this SubStack series.
This term I am co-leading 'Innovation and Sustainability in Business', a Masters module in the Institute for Sustainable Resources at UCL. This the same course which prompted the 'Innovation for Sustainability' podcast, where I interview practitioners to give students the grit under the fingernails of innovation and sustainability in business.
This will be the third time I’ve delivered the course. It has been invaluable in giving me a stronger and wider understanding of innovation for sustainability at the micro, meso and macro levels (so, individual organisation; sector and ecosystem; national and global economies). This expanded understanding underpins the Atelier of What’s Next, a studio for initiatives at the frontier of generating a better future.
On the module, I deliver only 3 of the 10 lectures. The others are by someone who actually knows what he is talking about: Dr Will McDowall, Associate Professor in Innovation and Sustainability (ISR webpage, Twitter). Will is the reason I have a stronger and wider understanding. He is the lead on what we teach and how. He also helps me turn my practitioner pronouncements into suitable, academically-founded material for the students.
The students themselves don't all come to lectures (but we think they really, really should). They do have to do a group presentation (a pitch for funding of a sustainable innovation) and an essay, where they demonstrate their understanding of the material covered by the module.
Last year, Will and I re-wrote the module. When we looked at the lecture titles we had a moment of realisation: these could work really well as chapter headings.
So, we are exploring doing a book, based on the content of the lectures and the podcasts. We both know that could be a lot of work and a lot of fun. Part of the motivation of this SubStack series is to test the book idea.
This series will share a key concept (maybe two) each week from the lectures. (Note that the lectures usually have much, much more content.) This should give the reader a flavour of what the week was about. If you want more content, get in touch. Or do the Masters and then select this option.
This rest of this post will given an overview of the module. Next week will give the framing which runs as a golden thread through the entire module. Then we will get into one, maybe two, specifics from each lecture in each post.
Introducing 'Innovation and Sustainability in Business'
The UCL Module catalogue gives this overview of the module here:
This module combines concepts from two fields highly relevant to environment and natural resource issues: innovation studies, and business sustainability. The module includes both a policy focus (exploring how governments can aim to stimulate ‘eco-innovation’, including cleaner technologies) and a focus on business sustainability management, including the essentials of clean innovation management from a business perspective.
Specific topics include, for example:
Management of technological innovation in the context of sustainability.
Sustainable entrepreneurship.
Drivers of innovation for sustainability in business.
The students are drawn from:
MSc SREPT: MSc Sustainable Resources: Economics, Policy and Transitions. More here.
MSc EPEE: MSc Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment. More here.
The ten lectures
Here are the ten lectures (*=the ones I deliver).
Business Responses to the Sustainability Crisis.*
Innovation Economics: Core Concepts and Issues (with a transformative lens).
New Product Development and Managing Technology Innovation.
(a) Sustainable Entrepreneurship and the route to commercialisation.*
(b) Sustainable Finance.*
Innovation (eco)system – beyond the cult of the entrepreneur.
Sustainable innovation in a digital age.
Sustainability Strategy and Scenario Planning.*
Transitions and The Bigger Picture.
Public Policy for Sustainability-Oriented Innovation.
Exploring Innovation and Sustainability through a Case Study.
Hopefully you can see why Will and I think those would make for great chapter headings in a book which could be useful to lots of people -- executives getting to grips with orientating innovation for sustainability, students studying the role of innovation in delivering a better world, policy-makers wanting to induce innovation that will make a difference.
I'm excited to share some key highlights!