Sustainable communications and innovation: Different types of effects from collaborative research including university and companies in the ICT-sector

Abstract

This paper presents experiences from the Centre for Sustainable Communications (CESC) located at KTH - The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Since 2007, the centre has carried out research in collaboration with private firms in the information and communication technology (ICT) and media sectors as well as with public sector organizations in the city of Stockholm. The aim is to share experiences from how the partners of the centre describe benefits and effects from collaborative research. Since the centre is focusing on use of ICT and media technology, rather than technology development per se, this provides an account of a wide range of effects from university-industry collaborations and new insights into the innovation processes targeting sustainability in the ICT and media sectors. This is an important perspective of sustainable and responsible innovation that is not captured in traditional innovation surveys (counting the number of new products or patents). Areas examined here include: increased knowledge and competence, new contacts and networks, publications, methods and new technology as well as changes in business operations and behaviour targeting sustainable solutions. The results also confirm firm-level business value as a driver for sustainability and provide experiences from involving users in the quest for sustainable and responsible innovation. © 2012 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.