An Action Design Research Study on Responsible Innovation Teaching and Training for Information Systems Students

While information systems organizations recognize the importance of incorporating responsible innovation into their activities, they often face difficulty implementing this practice because employees lack the required knowledge and skills, particularly the capacity for reflexivity and reflection. This paper aims to accelerate responsible innovation teaching and training for information systems students to expedite the process of positive change for sustainability. Using the action design research methodology and the responsible innovation lens, we developed a workshop enabling information systems students to form measurable reflection skills. The workshop evaluation suggests that learning took place and that students are willing to adopt responsible innovation in their future workplaces. A set of design guidelines is proposed to guide further training programs to enhance students’ ability to address complex challenges responsibly. This paper answers the call for more impactful information systems research to address societal and environmental challenges and enriches the literature on sustainable social development and business practices

Developing Organizational Capabilities in SMEs: Enabling Environmentally Sustainable ICT

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have made significant contributions to business innovation and wealth generation for organisations, societies and nations. ICT have also made significant contributions to environmental degradation. Confronted by the necessity to respond to growing environmental concerns in society, regulatory imperatives and market pressure, many business leaders express uncertainty about how best to proceed. The challenges of environmental sustainability are particularly acute for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) due to their limited capabilities to initiate significant change without external assistance. With a track record of investigating diverse aspects of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) applications and practices in organizations, Information Systems (IS) researchers appear well placed to provide such assistance. Unfortunately, IS researchers have failed to engage with environmental sustainability of ICT as either a problem requiring resolution or as an opportunity to present innovative solutions.This paper aims to facilitate development of SME business practice in the environmental sustainability of ICT and promotion of an industry-relevant IS research agenda. Contributions are: identification and categorization of a diversity of literature sources to inform SMEs on the topic; proposal of a stages of development framework for building SME capabilities in ICT environmental sustainability based on current literature and a case study of leading SME practice; and proposal of an industry-relevant IS research agenda. Implications of the framework for SMEs and for IS research are discussed

Energy Information Systems: From the Basement to the Boardroom

A significant buildings energy reduction opportunity exists in the office sector, given that this market segment typically is an early adopter of new technology. There is a rising trend towards smart and connected offices through the internet of things (IoT) that provides new opportunities for operational efficiency and environmental sustainability practices. Leading commercial real estate companies have begun to shift from individual building automation systems (BAS) to partially integrated and automated systems such as energy information systems (EIS). In both the United States and India, organizations are seeking operational excellence, enhanced tenant relationships, and topline growth. Hence it is imperative to engage the executives with decision-making power, by tapping into their interest in sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and innovation. This expansion of interest can enable data-driven decisions, strong energy investments, and deeper energy benefits, and would drive innovation in this field. However, none of this would be possible without robust, consistent building energy information to provide visibility across all the levels of decision making, i.e. from the basement where the facilities staff take operational action to the boardroom where the executives make investment decisions. Price, security, and ease of use remain barriers to the adoption and pervasive use of promising EIS technologies in commercial office buildings. We believe that these barriers can be addressed through the development of ready, simplified, consistent, commercially available, low-cost EIS-in-a-box packages, that have a pre-defined set of hardware components and software features and functionality that are pertinent to a particular building sector. These simplified, sector-specific EIS packages can help to obviate the need for customization, and enhance ease of use, thereby enabling scale-up, in order to facilitate building energy savings. The EIS-in-a-box are adaptable in both U.S. and Indian office buildings, and potentially beyond these two countries

ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE ICT: DEVELOPING CORPORATE CAPABILITIES AND AN INDUSTRY-RELEVANT IS RESEARCH AGENDA

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have made significant contributions to business innovation and wealth generation for organisations, societies and nations. ICT have also made significant contributions to environmental degradation. Confronted by the necessity to respond to growing environmental concerns in society, regulatory imperatives and market pressure, many executives express uncertainty about how best to proceed. IS researchers have investigated diverse aspects of ICT applications and practices in organizations over the last 30 years but IS research literature, to date, has provided little assistance to those organizations unsure about how, where and when to respond to imperatives for their ICT applications and practices to become \u27Green\u27. This paper aims to facilitate the development of corporate practice in the environmental sustainability of ICT and to promote an industry-relevant Information Systems research agenda. Its contributions are: an overview of the topic from a diversity of literature sources; proposal of a stages of development framework for corporate capabilities in ICT environmental sustainability based on the literature and on the experiences of a global ICT services corporation recognised as a leader in its environmental sustainability activities; and proposal of an industry-relevant IS research agenda. Implications of the framework for corporate practice and for IS research are discussed

The context, content and process of green information system innovations

This thesis reports an investigation of information system innovations for environmental sustainability. The Information Systems (IS) sub-field concerned with addressing this challenge is known as Green IS and is just beginning to be understood. Green IS is positioned at the interconnection between the economical, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development and it has much to contribute to sustainable outcomes in the face of climate change and other environmental challenges. Green information systems, in addition, refer to specific information system artefacts that organisations create and/or apply to achieve green goals such as to reduce emissions or to encourage pro-environmental behaviour. On the other hand, green information system innovation is an integrated and cooperating set of people, processes, software and information technologies to support individual, organisational, or societal goals and serve the purpose of environmental sustainability. Currently, there is limited research in applying a process perspective to explain the content of green information system innovation, the factors and forces that affect the innovation process, the intricate process of green information system creation and application, as well as the outcomes from the use of green information system innovation. The research therefore poses the following questions: what is green information system innovation and why do organisations create and/or apply green information system innovation, how does the innovation process take place and what are the outcomes from the green information system innovation? To address these questions, a literature review covering the domains of organisational innovation, IS innovation and green IS innovation was conducted. The review led us to adopt the process theory of innovation as well as Pettigrew‘s (1990) contextualist-processual theory of change with its focus on the ―what, why, and how” of organisational change. The investigation was undertaken in a single organisation setting named Telecom Acadia (anonymous), a large telecom operator in the South East Asia region with a focus on four green information system innovations, namely Energy Informatics, Unified Communications and Collaboration, Sustainable Knowledge Management and Sharing, and Fleet Management Information Systems. An interpretive approach and a qualitative research design were followed to carry out the research. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 44 participants, a descriptive survey of 150 participants, and a review of 30 sets of various types of organisational documents. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the four green information system innovations follow distinct innovation phases and stages through complex and dynamic interactions among the key people that champion and shape the organisation‘s quest towards environmental sustainability. The research contributes two new green information system innovation models, namely (1) the Green Information System in Practice Innovation Process Model; and (2) the Green Information System in Spirit Innovation Process Model; and a set of ten testable theoretical propositions for future research. In terms of practical contribution, this research demonstrates the best practices in using information systems for environmental sustainability. Furthermore, this thesis enhances practitioners‘ understanding by identifying the capabilities and success factors that organisations need to have in order to succeed in green information system innovation

Introduction to the Special Section: Digital Innovation for Social Development and Environmental Action

In 2022, we launched a call for papers for a special section on digital innovation for social development and environmental action. The call was motivated by the need for the information systems discipline to move beyond talking about sustainability to taking actions to address important challenges facing society and the planet. Many authors responded to the call and we are pleased to present the fruits of their labors. In this introduction to the special section, we discuss the motivations for the special section, explain how the special section came together, highlight key points of interest in the eight papers that make up the special section, and reflect on future directions for information systems research

Die COMPASS-Methodik: COMPAnies and sectors path to sustainability. Unternehmen und Branchen auf dem Weg zur Zukunftsfähigkeit. Zukunftsfähiges Unternehmen (5)

-- Sustainable development remains a formidable challenge for the societies of the 21st century. A number of concepts have been put forward on how to reach sustainability at a macro-economic level. These concepts are based on different points of view of economic, social and environmental systems and their behaviour, and derive their legitimacy from economic and environmental theories. An overriding priority of companies attempting to promote sustainability at enterprise and sector level is to translate these broad concepts and the indicators behind into specific concepts and measurable indicators useful in day-to-day business decisions. For companies and sectors it is important to know what kind of targets and actions they will bring on a path to sustainability. That is true for economic targets (high profit, high competitiveness, low investment payback, etc.), as for ecological (high life-cycle wide resource productivity, low toxicity, high biodiversity, low erosion, etc.) and social targets (from employee satisfaction over a low unemployment rate to overall stability in society). Therefore, COMPASS (companies' and sectors'path to sustainability) has been developed to provide decision-makers in a company or sector withsufficient information. COMPASS offers the methodological framework, the instruments and measures to operationalise the normative concept of sustainable development at micro level. The methodology aims at considering economic, ecological and social aspects throughout the whole product system in order to enable decision-makers to optimise processes, products and services towards a sustainable satisfaction of demand. It shows the sustainability performance gaps and helps to communicate possible action to reduce these gaps.COMPASS consists of five elements. Four creative and assessing elements are COMPASSprofile, COMPASSvision, COMPASSanalysis and COMPASSmanagement. The reporting element is the COM-PASSreport.Kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen,multinationale Unternehmen,Branchen,zukunftsfähige Entwicklung,Managementsysteme,MIPS,Ökoeffizienz,Ressourcenmanagement,Faktor 4/10,Humankapital,Sozialmanagement,Wettbewerbsfähigkeit,Profit,Qualifizierung,Kommunikation,dreifache Gewinnstrategie,Innovationen,Small and medium sized companies,multinationals,sustainable development,management systems,MIPS,eco-efficiency,resource management,factor 4/10,human resources,social management,competitiveness,profits,qualification,communication,triple win strategy,innovation

Alternative Seafood - Exploring Pathways for Norway in the Protein Transition

Our global food system is facing major challenges. The growing global population and demand for animal proteins are driving resource pressures, environmental impacts, and hazardous health effects for humans and animals. If we are to feed the world without further destabilizing our planet, major transformations in our food systems are called for. This requires shifts towards sustainable and healthy diets, coupled with transitions to sustainable and equitable production systems. Meat and livestock production is gaining increased attention for being an environmental and health hazard. Seafood on the other hand has a reputation for being a healthy and sustainable alternative. However, seafood supply chains and fish farming systems are currently far from innocent. Industrial wild capture, fish farming and feed production are harming marine and terrestrial ecosystems alike, and the health and wellbeing of animals and humans. Along with the transition to renewable energy and a circular economy, a sustainable civilization calls for transitions toward alternative proteins and regenerative food systems – including a shift in seafood production. New technologies are opening possibilities for a phase-shift in how we produce food. Innovation in plant-based proteins, microbial fermentation and cellular agriculture are providing alternative ways of making the seafood and animal products we know and love – without any animals involved. These alternative proteins are accelerated by the convergence of biotechnology, information technologies, nanotechnologies, 3D-printing, sensors and the like. The fourth industrial revolution has reached the agro-food industry, with sustainable innovations disrupting the incumbent system, and opening up an ocean of opportunity. Megatrends such as the sustainability imperative and flexitarian movement are creating ripe conditions for change. In this research, we explore how Norway can contribute to the protein transition by leading the way in alternative seafood. Despite scarce activity in the space, Norway has an abundance of resources that could be leveraged for alternative proteins, ranging from natural resources to financial and cultural capital. We investigate opportunities, barriers, and strategies to drive forward value chains for this emerging industry, while ensuring a sustainable and just transition. The intended outcomes are foundations for a shared vision and strategy – a roadmap for building an innovation system that can enable new value chains and the protein transition in Norway. We apply pragmatic tools and theoretical frameworks to address this complex challenge - such as systems innovation, value chains, and sustainability transitions. Keywords: alternative proteins, alternative seafood, aquaculture, food systems, bioeconomy, sustainability transitions, socio-technical systems, multi-level perspective, value chains, technological innovation systems, innovation ecosystems, strategy, Norwa

Innovation and the Triple Bottom Line: Investigating Funding Mechanisms and Social Equity Issues of Living Labs for Sustainability

Cities face a host of challenges including urbanisation and climate change and must quickly adapt and integrate sustainability solutions to deal with these challenges. One platform seen as a mechanism to support innovation for sustainability in cities is the concept of the living lab. A living lab is a user-centred, open innovation ecosystem that seeks to engage academia, industry and municipalities along with the community in the processes of co-creation and co-generation of products, processes or services in a real-world context. On-going research seeks to measure the potential of living labs to support innovation for sustainability as they are often regarded as a mechanism to support rapid social and technological transformations. The triple bottom line perspective guides this investigation to examine the environmental, financial and social aspects of living labs. Several methods are used in this study to analyse and triangulate data as it relates to the triple bottom line, namely, literature analysis of 118 living labs, thirteen respondents to a survey of living labs, five semi-structured interviews of funding partners and relevant stakeholders, and geographic information systems (GIS) analysis of living labs in the Netherlands, England and Wales. Living labs for sustainability offer the promise of sustainability transformations in cities; yet, issues plague the viability of living labs as a platform to usher such transitions. The results show that living labs most often engage in projects in the fields of energy efficiency and smart city solutions; yet, they do not communicate the decarbonisation and environmental impacts of their actions. In examining the extent to which the funding regime supports living labs, it is clear that the current funding strategy focuses on the financing of short-term projects as opposed to platforms or processes such as living labs. Consequently, the current funding regime needs to develop mechanisms that support platforms and ecosystems for sustainable innovation that would allow for long-term commitment and trust to be built between living labs and the community. Lastly, while living labs are often embedded in disadvantaged communities, it appears that living labs tend to only engage those willing participants who represent a non-diverse and privileged section of society. This analysis suggests that living labs for sustainability shall seek to engage all people impacted and included in their sustainability purview in the development of sustainability solutions

Population pressure and the microeconomy of land management in hills and mountains of developing countries:

Concerns about harmful environmental impacts are frequently raised in research and policy debates about population growth in the hills and mountains of developing countries. Although establishing wildlife corridors and biosphere reserves is important for preserving selected biodiverse habitats, for the vast majority of hilly-mountainous lands, the major ecological concerns are for the sustainability of local production systems and for watershed integrity. What matters for sustained use of those lands not only is the number of producers but also what, where and how they produce. Evidence from empirical research indicates that population growth in hills and mountains can lead to land enhancement, degradation, or aspects of both. This can be explained by extending induced innovation theory to address environmental impacts of intensification. Increases in the labor-land endowment ratios of households and in local land demand and labor supply make the opportunity cost of land relative to labor increase. As a result, people use hilly-mountainous land resources more intensively for production and consumption, thus tending to deplete resources and significantly alter habitats. But, at the same time, capital- and labor-intensive methods of replenishing or improving soil productivity may become economically more attractive, production systems that enhance the land if the expected discounted returns are greater than those of systems that degrade the land. Users will choose production systems that enhance the land if the expected discounted returns are greater than those of systems that degrade the land. In addition to population change, other factors—market conditions, local institutions and organizations, information and technology about resource management, and local ecological conditions—determine the returns from various production systems.Environmental impact analysis., Population density.,