Innovation for Sustainability (849N1)
15 credits, Level 7 (Masters)
Spring teaching
This module will explore the role innovation can play in sustainable development in industrialised and developing countries, including (but not limited to) its importance in mitigating and adapting to climate change. A number of key ideas will be used to provide a framework for learning. These include past and current theory on sustainability, growth and competitiveness (with specific reference to the role of technology), understanding and influencing directions of innovation, and the governance of socio-technical transitions. Specific topics will be explored within each key idea. Examples include: social and technical innovations in energy and resource use efficiency; economic and other policy instruments to promote such innovations; barriers to the diffusion of sustainable innovations; the role of innovative green niches in systems transformations; and the challenges of international co-ordination. These will be illustrated with reference to real world cases in the manufacturing, housing, agriculture and energy sectors.
This module will enable you to:
- articulate and utilise a working knowledge of issues concerning innovations and sustainability and to evaluate critically the main theoretical perspectives on innovation and the environment;
- apply concepts from innovation theory in analysing a range of contemporary environmental policy problems;
- research the innovation dimensions of a contemporary environmental problem using a mix of academic and policy l