Samenvatting
Article in preparation for the international volume with Springer titled "Early and Bottom-up Engagement: Ways to Accelerate Sustainability Transition." edited by Professor Marina van Geenhuizen from the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management at Delft University of Technology.
| Originele taal-2 | English |
|---|---|
| Uitgever | Springer |
| Aantal pagina's | 10 |
| Status | In preparation - 2025 |
Bibliografische nota
Outline Book“Early and Bottom-up Engagement: Ways to Accelerate Sustainability Transition”
Summary:
In recent years we have seen a notable increase of initiatives attempting at early engagement with science and technology, in many forms of interaction between citizens, consumers, (local) young entrepreneurs, policymakers and researchers. The book starts with a review of factors that require and enhance early, bottom-up engagement. Most important of them, the need for acceleration of
the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires not only technology and engineering knowledge but also a matching with most important local and other stakeholders’ visions and interests. The contributions in this volume explore challenges and obstacles in a multiple stakeholder context and fill gaps in understanding them.
The book first focuses on Triple (Quadruple) Helix collaboration, in particular university spin-off firms and the time they need to bring sustainability inventions to the market. In search of explanations for different times and lack of market introduction, attention is paid to both firm-specific factors (like risk-taking strategies and owned resources) and external factors in entrepreneurial ecosystems. Next part, is devoted to citizens and the policies (initiatives) to increase their participation in university research (citizen science) and in identifying, testing and decision-making on sustainability solutions (e.g. living labs). A far-reaching characteristic of the
involved initiatives is the heterogeneity in practical application/elaboration, and the somewhat contradictory quest for integration and standardization. In this part, a specific focus is given to needs for ex-ante preparation of projects and ex-post evaluation of results, in order to speed-up and make the tools more productive and better accepted in policies.
Digitalisation is an overwhelmingly fast growing phenomenon that affects speed and quality in early and bottom-up engagement of local entrepreneurs, like in marketing, and citizens’ participation (co-creation), like in urban digital twins and simulation of development of urban entrepreneurial ecosystems, innovation and policy outcomes concerned, using artificial intelligence and big data. Quality is seen here as responding to democracy and human (eventually entrepreneurial) values, like information and process transparency, fairness and trust, and privacy,
safety and security, and increased quality of life.
For each of the three angles in engagement approaches, the state-of-the art of (potential) contribution to accelerate sustainability is discussed, what sets them apart and what unites them, and which practical challenges are waiting for a solution. In terms of research types, most chapters provide relevant theory, like on change and resistance to change, and on capabilities and risk- taking. This is followed by empirical results on young firms and participation of citizens in projects, using large samples and/or small sets of in-depth case-studies, and eventually by policy
recommendation. Regarding subject matter, most attention is given to sustainable energy, healthcare, and digital solutions.