Green Innovation and Future Technology : Engaging Regional SMEs in the Green Economy

This book explores green innovation and future technology skill development within regional small to medium sized enterprises. Notwithstanding the goals of a greener Europe, there has been little debate as to how the skills required to fulfil the goals of sustainable development can be imparted within regions and within rural business communities. This book explores green innovation and future technology skill development within regional small to medium sized enterprises. Notwithstanding the goals of a greener Europe, there has been little debate as to how the skills required to fulfil the goals of sustainable development can be imparted within regions and particularly, within rural business communities. The authors suggest that the pursuit of green skill enhancement should be based on cross-disciplinary collaborative action within an academic-practice partnership ethos. An inter-disciplinary team of academics and project specialists explore the gap from theory to implementation in green innovation and provide a series of cases which highlight the benefits of a stakeholder approach in this context. Green Innovation and Future Technology is distinctive in its cross-border, multi-disciplinary approach to the green innovativeness skill enhancement of SMEs Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Foreword 9 Preface 11 Notes on Contributors 14 Introduction 22 Engaging regional SMEs in the green economy 24 Supporting the enhancement of green innovativeness in regional SMEs 26 Green Innovation and Future Technology programme overview 28 1 The Green Economy 33 1.1 A changing economic environment 35 1.2 Defining the green economy 36 1.3 The policy gap 38 1.4 The green business landscape in Ireland and Wales – a regional perspective 42 2 The Green Innovation and Future Technologies (GIFT) Concept 48 2.1 Green innovativeness and green capability development – an SME perspective 49 2.2 Embedding cross-border innovation and knowledge exchange in a green learning community 51 2.3 Proposing a framework of regional SME engagement for sustainable development 53 2.4 Concluding remarks 57 3 Multilevel Engagement: Theory and Practice Integration 62 3.1 Collaborative spaces to promote cross-border SME/ stakeholder engagement and knowledge exchange 64 3.1.1 Case A: Creating a VLE to embed a CoP ethos 67 3.1.2 Case B: Training days: collaborative engagement to promote sustainable walking tourism 69 3.1.3 Case C: Annual learning showcase and study tour 72 3.2 Concluding remarks 74 4 Reciprocal Knowledge-Transfer Activities between SMEs and Academia 78 4.1 Postgraduate – regional SME – engagement: collaborative applied research projects 81 4.1.1 Business-led maxi projects 84 4.1.1.1 The potential adoption of eco-trolleys by supermarket retailers in Ireland 84 4.1.1.2 The effect of diet on rumen microbes and methane emissions 86 4.1.1.3 Attitudes towards eco-certification in the hospitality industry in North West Wales 89 4.1.1.4 Developing a green audit for Oceanics Surf School & Marine Education Centre 91 4.1.2 Business-led mini projects 94 4.1.2.1 Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Small Enterprise Management 94 4.1.2.2 MBA student pitch to SME owners 97 4.1.3 Case D: Training days: collaborative engagement to promote wood fuel quality 99 4.2 Developing interdisciplinary curricula in sustainable development education 101 4.2.1 Case E: Greening the MBA 102 4.2.2 Case F: Physical and virtual learning spaces for cross-border student knowledge exchange: green technology postgraduate study tour 105 4.3 Concluding remarks 107 5 Green Stakeholder Engagement: The Learning Journey 112 5.1 Reflections on cross-border interdisciplinary academic-practice collaboration 113 5.1.1 Academic team 113 5.1.2 Advisory board 114 5.1.3 The support hub 118 5.1.4 Expert/industry stakeholders 120 5.1.5 Participating SMEs 121 5.1.6 Participating students 125 5.2 Where next? Key insights and future directions 127 Index 135 An essential handbook for all interested in the whys and wherefores of establishing partnerships in building a green economy. This impressive tome is both thought-provoking and practical. Chapters are contributed by the high level academic cohort from the Waterford Institute of Technology (Ireland), Bangor University (Wales) and University College Dublin (Ireland), as well as by partners in national and regional agencies on both sides of the Irish Sea, and by businesses of all sizes, including not-for-profit. Explaining how this wide range of expertise and enthusiasm from two countries was harnessed and developed with the aid of a European Union grant from the Ireland-Wales Territorial Cooperation Programme, this handbook offers a unique, comprehensive guide which I expect will be valuable also in other parts of Europe and world-wide. - Roger Seddon, Territorial Co-operation Unit, Welsh European Funding Office, Department for the Economy and Transport, Welsh Government Front Matter....Pages i-xx Introduction....Pages 1-11 The Green Economy....Pages 12-26 The Green Innovation and Future Technologies (GIFT) Concept....Pages 27-40 Multilevel Engagement: Theory and Practice Integration....Pages 41-56 Reciprocal Knowledge-Transfer Activities between SMEs and Academia....Pages 57-90 Green Stakeholder Engagement: The Learning Journey....Pages 91-113 Back Matter....Pages 114-118