Sustainable and Responsible Innovation

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• analyse the feasibility of implementing new product/service/process opportunities in a sustainable and socially responsible context.
• understand and evaluate how sustainability and social responsibility can be integrated into business strategy and innovation management;
• evaluate how broader technological and societal contexts shape the enablers of, and barriers to, sustainable and responsible innovation;
• understand the conceptual debates on sustainability and social responsibility for innovation;

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• self-manage the development of learning and study skills, both individually and as part of a collaborative learning group;
• apply the research skills to synthesise, analyse, interpret and critically evaluate information from a range of sources.
• recognise that in many situations there is a range of alternatives which should be evaluated;

Knowledge and Understanding

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

• the business opportunities for sustainable and responsible innovations;
• the reasons why sustainability and social responsibility have become strategic key imperatives for a wide range of organisations;
• the barriers and limitations for successful sustainable and responsible innovations including why certain barriers are hard to overcome.

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• evaluate alternative approaches to understanding and managing sustainable and responsible innovation;
• apply opportunity recognition processes to develop sustainable and responsible innovations.
• understand and apply appropriate theoretical concepts, models, tools and techniques of sustainable and responsible innovation;

• Introduction: why sustainable and responsible innovation
• Key concepts of sustainability and social responsibility
• Key actors driving the environmental and social responsibility agenda
• Barriers to sustainable and responsible innovation
• Dimensions of sustainable innovation (including capabilities approach, routine configurations, sensemaking, effectuation thinking, driving revenues and creating intangible value, green design, life cycle analysis)
• Dimensions of responsible innovation (including innovation for social inclusion, poverty alleviation).

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include:

Lectures, interactive case studies, problem-solving activities, directed reading, and private/guided study.

Learning activities include:

• Introductory lectures
• Case study/problem solving activities
• In class debate and discussion
• Private study
• Use of video and online materials

Class activities, such as problem solving activities, discussions and use of case studies will provide opportunities for you to gain feedback from your tutor and/or peers about their level of understanding and knowledge prior to any formal summative assessment. Feedback on the coursework will normally be provided through a written report for each individual within four weeks of the submission date.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Owen, R., Bessant, J. and M. Heintz, eds. (2013). Responsible Innovation. Wiley-Blackwell.

Karnani, A. (2011). Fighting Poverty Together: Rethinking Strategies for Business, Governments, and Civil Society to Reduce Poverty.. Palgrave.

Rauschmayer, F., Omann, I. and Frühmann, J. (2011). Sustainable Development: Capabilities, Needs and Wellbeing.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

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