TRANSFORM - Innovation & Entrepreneurship for Sustainability

ogólnouniwersyteckie

‘TRANSFORM – Innovation & Entrepreneurship for Sustainability’ is a collaborative 4EU+ course on innovation and (social) entrepreneurship for sustainable development. It will be offered by a team of lecturers across the Universities of Heidelberg, Warsaw, Sorbonne, Copenhagen, and Mannheim. The course will introduce the concepts of: open and frugal innovation, strategic thinking for social problem solving, scaling sustainable solutions, and measuring societal impact. TRANSFORM offers students a unique opportunity for intercultural exchange, critical thinking and pro-active learning.

The course consists of four modules (innovation, strategy, scaling, and impact). Throughout the semester students will team up in groups across universities to create service, product or process innovations that address a sustainability challenge (course project). After an introduction of the key concepts, students analyze and examine how these concepts can be applied to their course projects. Therefore, the course does not only provide a strong theoretical foundation, but also allows students to gain valuable insights into the concrete application of concepts through a hands-on and practical approach. Lecturers from the participating universities conduct classes in their respective areas of expertise and jointly mentor student teams.

The course builds on the previously established “Accelerating Investment Readiness” MOOC (#AirMOOC, see https://youtu.be/yPUVuh_uFgg), but extends its contents significantly. It takes place online with students from all universities. The sessions alternate between content and application, allowing students to work on their projects regularly. At the end of the semester students present their results and write an assignment. The best student outputs will be featured on the public online platform the team of lecturers will build for the contents to be used by other university educators globally. The platform will also provide all contents to students.

The course demands a high degree of pro-activity.

Alford, J. & Head, B. W. (2017). Wicked and less wicked problems: a typology and a contingency framework. Policy and Society, 36(3), 397–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2017.1361634

Seelos, C. & Mair, J. (2012). Innovation Is Not the Holy Grail (SSIR). Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2012. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/innovation_is_not_the_holy_grail

Weber, C., Kröger, A. and Demirtas, C. (2015). Scaling Social Impact in Europe. Quantitative Analysis of National and Transnational Scaling Strategies of 358 Social Enterprises. https://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/fileadmin/files/user_upload/BST_ScalingSocialImpactInEurope_final.pdf