Innovation, Technology and the Environment

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• plan and control effectively for successful completion of a personal and group workload;
• communicate effectively, in both oral and written form, using and justifying argument within reports, presentations and debates;
• carry out team-work effectively.
• use a wide range of information sources requiring the development of bibliographic skills including the use the Internet;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• the process of developing viable market opportunities based on energy and resource conservation issues.
• the contextual factors (global and national) influencing innovation in an environmental context;
• the nature of the entrepreneurial environment: as a complex, dynamic set of inter-relations between new markets, new technologies and new regulatory practices;
• the challenges and opportunities presented to entrepreneurs by the green agenda;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• appraise the innovation challenges facing green entrepreneurs in a given industry setting;
• analyse the feasibility of implementing new technology opportunities in a sustainable context.
• analyse how new industry sectors have arisen in response to new trends;
• recognise trends in the environmental context (policy, technology, economic/social) that present entrepreneurial opportunities;

Introduction: why innovation and the environment; Key concepts of innovation; Key actors driving the environmental agenda; Challenges of sustainability transitions; Opportunities for entrepreneurs and innovators; Dimensions of eco-innovation; Building the innovative organization and developing an innovation strategy; Decision making under uncertainty and building the innovation case; Innovation networks and open innovation; Capturing the benefits of innovation and capturing learning from innovation.

Teaching and learning methods

Learning activities include lectures; activity-based seminars; case studies; private study; online-quizzes, group presentations.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Jones, G. (2017). Profits and Sustainability: A history of Green Entrepreneurship. Oxford University Press.

Esty, D. and Winston, A (2009). Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage. Wiley.

Bessant,J. and Tidd, J. (2015). Innovation and Entrepreneurship. John Wiley & Sons.

Bansal, P. and Hoffman, A. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Business and the Natural Environment. Oxford University Press.

Carillo-Hermosilla, J. and del Rio Gonzalez. P. and T. Konnola, T. (2009). Eco-Innovation: When Sustainability and Competitiveness Shake Hands. Palgrave.

Geels, F., Kemp, R., Dudley, G. and Lyons, G (2012). Automobility in Transition? A Socio-Technical Analysis of Sustainable Transport. Routledge.

Koester, E. (2017). Green entrepreneur handbook: the guide to building and growing a green and clean business.. Taylor & Francis.

Chesbrough, H., Vanhaverbeke, W. and West, J. (2006). Open Innovation: Researching a New Paradigm. Oxford University Press.

Jolly, A. (2010). Clean Tech Clean Profits: Using Effective Innovation and Sustainable Business Practices to Win in the New Low-Carbon Economy. Kogan Page.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External