Integrating research and teaching on innovation for sustainable development
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 1 July 2006
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to point out the necessity of implementing more appropriate approaches instead of the traditional single disciplinary approaches, in order to be able to cope with the ill‐defined, highly complex problem of sustainable development in systems such as organizations or regions.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on empirical data concerning expert and stakeholder preferences, it is argued that research and teaching on innovation for sustainability need to be both inter‐ and transdisciplinary.
Findings
Here, the approach of transdisciplinary case studies, developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, allows appropriate integration of research and teaching activities and thus leads to mutual learning between the case study actors.
Practical implications
In the second part of the paper, these conceptual considerations are illustrated with the so‐called Erzherzog Johann case study, an integrative research and teaching project at the University of Graz.
Originality/value
In the paper the very complex task to integrate research and teaching on sustainability‐related innovation is described and illustrated with the first transdisciplinary case‐study conducted in Austria according to the ETH approach.
Keywords
Citation
Posch, A. and Steiner, G. (2006), "Integrating research and teaching on innovation for sustainable development", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 276-292. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370610677847
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited