Integrating research and teaching on innovation for sustainable development

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to point out the necessity of implementing more appropriate approaches instead of the traditional single disciplinary approaches, in order to be able to cope with the ill‐defined, highly complex problem of sustainable development in systems such as organizations or regions.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on empirical data concerning expert and stakeholder preferences, it is argued that research and teaching on innovation for sustainability need to be both inter‐ and transdisciplinary.

Findings

Here, the approach of transdisciplinary case studies, developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, allows appropriate integration of research and teaching activities and thus leads to mutual learning between the case study actors.

Practical implications

In the second part of the paper, these conceptual considerations are illustrated with the so‐called Erzherzog Johann case study, an integrative research and teaching project at the University of Graz.

Originality/value

In the paper the very complex task to integrate research and teaching on sustainability‐related innovation is described and illustrated with the first transdisciplinary case‐study conducted in Austria according to the ETH approach.

Citation

Posch, A. and Steiner, G. (2006), "Integrating research and teaching on innovation for sustainable development", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 276-292. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370610677847