Excellent special issue on „Business Models for Sustainability: Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Transformation“ in Organization & Environment.
We are excited that our proposal was selected to receive funding from the Belmont Forum, a pan-international social science research body. The project focuses on studying how IP models can help to accelerate sustainability transitions, particularly analysing sustainable business models for clean energy and the circular economy.
Starting in October, the IPACST project will run for three years. Project partners include:
Total projects funds are about 1m€. UK funds for the project come from the Global Challenges Research Funds, respectively the ESRC. The project is among 12 selected consortia projects out of 155 eligible proposals.
We will soon be looking to recruit a postdoc, preferably with research expertise in IP and licensing, but also sustainable innovation and the circular economy.
Glad to see our paper published in IJPE on „Service transitions of product-centric firms: An explorative study of service transition stages and barriers in Germany’s energy market“ with Heiner Lütjen und Carsten Schultz.
Come along to the IfM’s open evening on 29 January 2015 to find out more about the work that takes place here. More information and booking: http://bit.ly/1BT6dkK
Watch this short video by Ellen MacArthur, former world sailing champion, on the possibilities for a bright future of mankind, if we manage to translate the principle of nature (i.e. recycling) into our economy. Full scale. Watch here.
This short video explains very well the possibilities of business models that are not based on ownership transactions. What happens to society when firms retain ownership and rather sell their products as a service? It also means democratizing consumers, who really then become users. Watch here.
An absolute interesting project to follow. The SPREE Project ist funded by FP7 and will run for three years. A highly experienced group of reseachers, supported by senior experts study the effects of servitization on the environment and resource utilization with the ultimate goal to understand if and to what extent servitization can contribute to absolute decoupling. I am looking forward seeing the results.
Also you might want to have a look at this short video, which the project produced.
The International Journal of Technology Management (IJTM) just published a special issue on „When Innovation Meets Sustainability Challenges„. Among the six papers is a paper that I have authored together with Cornelius Herstatt and Tim Schiederig entitled „Firms‘ transition to green product service system innovators: cases from the mobility sector„. In the paper we present and discuss how firms can become innovators of product service systems based on three cases from urban, future mobility solutions (car2go, Hertz on Demand, Better Place).
Fab labs are on the rise. One has recently opened here in Cambridge, named „Makespace„. In Hamburg we have Fabulous St. Pauli since 2011. These are places where users can turn their ideas into prototypes using state-of-the-art 3D-printing, but as well more conventional tools such as CNC or drilling machines. A recent brand eins article dealt with the phenomenon, particularly in the context of sharing knowledge, resources and just forming local communities. Several examples exist. Visit also the website of the International Fab Lab Association for more information and several examples. According to the article, the first fab lab in Germany was the „Münchner Haus der Eigenarbeit“ founded already in 1987.
Excellent short interview with my current colleague here at IfM, Prof. Andy Neely. Interviewed by the Financial Times he talks about three reasons why firms servitize (strategic, economic, environment), accompanied risks and firm implications (e.g., big data). Watch here.
Die Artikel der Zeitschrift „brand eins“, Ausgabe „Greif zu“ (05/2013) sind hier online verfügbar. Es geht um Geschäftsmodelle rund um das Teilen (sharing, leasing, renting, etc.) und inwiefern diese für Unternehmen sinnvoll, also gewinnbringend sein können, mit spannenden Beispielen klassischer Firmen (z.B. Linde AG), von Start-ups (z.B. Flightcar, car2go, DriveNow, Zipcar, RelayRides) und weiteren Beipielen aus dem Altag.