Article Gold Open Access 2023

The tango between the academic and business sectors: Use of co-management approach for the development of green innovation

Innovation and Green Development
Journal · Vol. 2 · Issue 4 · Art. 100073
Abstract

This study explores a co-management approach to prepare future environmental engineers for green innovation and commercialisation by improving cooperation between academia and industry. Collaboration between academia, government, agencies, and industry is a top priority due to the significant impact of the availability of qualified environmental professionals on the economy. The potential for collaboration among parties with different interests and principles remains largely unexplored. Compared to tango dance, the paper discusses the co-management approach, combining two disciplines with other goals and expectations. The methodology adapts brainstorming for studying environmental engineering to improve students' competencies and diversify study methods. Studying classical idea co-creation approaches in higher education, evaluating their results, and analysing stakeholders’ opinions - involving 65 students, six industry and government representatives, and 14 lecturers. This study identified crucial factors that form a model for successful collaboration between academia and industry to train environmental science specialists and develop green innovations. These factors include party participation activity, the definition of primary evaluation criterion, and student motivation. The study concludes that the co-management approach could enhance competence education quality by promoting skill diversification and teamwork and providing greater motivation to work. © 2023 The Authors

Keywords

Author Keywords

Higher education Competencies green innovation Co-management approach Knowledge-based education

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Institute of Energy Systems and Environment, Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia
Funding & Acknowledgements
European Social Fund Plus, ESF
Grant: 8.2.2.0/20/I/008
This work has been supported by the European Social Fund within the Project No 8.2.2.0/20/I/008 «Strengthening of PhD students and academic personnel of Riga Technical University and BA School of Business and Finance in the strategic fields of specialisation» of the Specific Objective 8.2.2 «To Strengthen Academic Staff of Higher Education Institutions in Strategic Specialization Areas» of the Operational Programme « Growth and Employment».
Rīgas Tehniskā Universitāte, RTU
This work has been supported by the European Social Fund within the Project No 8.2.2.0/20/I/008 «Strengthening of PhD students and academic personnel of Riga Technical University and BA School of Business and Finance in the strategic fields of specialisation» of the Specific Objective 8.2.2 «To Strengthen Academic Staff of Higher Education Institutions in Strategic Specialization Areas» of the Operational Programme « Growth and Employment».
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