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The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of collaboration towards Sustainable Energy Innovation (SEI) in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects. While the capacity of PFI to encourage collaboration towards innovation is largely advocated by its proponents; however, it remains to be supported by empirical evidence.

Adopting the Complex Product System (CoPS) innovation management model, the authors assess the quality of collaboration at the interface between the innovation superstructure of public sector clients and users, and the innovation infrastructure of private sector designers, contractors and operators. Two interactional elements are examined upon which the quality of collaboration is assessed: openness of communication and alignment of objectives. The authors apply the model to four new-built PFI school projects within the context of the UK government Building Schools for the Future Programme. Semi-structured interviews with total of 50 key stakeholders were used as the primary data collection method.

PFI has introduced a number of problematic issues weakening collaborative efforts towards innovation in the project environment. Particularly, the study underlines the restricting internal contractual relationships within the integrated Project Company and the misalignment of Design-Construction-Operation sustainability objectives. It also highlights ineffective communication with public sector clients and users brought in by the restricted nature of PFI engagement processes as well as the misalignment of public sector-private sector sustainability objectives.

The qualitative nature of the chosen research methodology limits the ability to generalise. The research findings need to be confirmed or rejected by means of quantitative research as representative of all PFI projects.

The study emphasizes the public authority’s role in relation to providing the necessary conditions for the creation of a collaborative environment conducive to SEI in PFI projects.

The study was able to expand the understanding of innovation and collaboration management processes in PFI projects in three respects: First, addressing the limited attention to innovation in PFI research, the study is the first to examine the quality of collaboration in PFI projects towards the implementation SEI. Second, examining the quality of collaboration in PFI projects through the lens of CoPS provides a new understanding of sustainability innovation and strongly indicates that the CoPS model should be expanded to account for the dynamics of innovation processes in the procurement of sustainable CoPS. Third, the explorative nature of the study was useful in generating research hypotheses that can form the basis for future research on SEI in PFI projects.

The allocation of risk among project participants is an important determinant of innovation success in construction projects. The purpose of this paper is to examine the capacity of risk allocation to encourage the implementation of environmental innovation, particularly sustainable energy innovation (SEI), within the private finance initiative (PFI) project delivery model.

A four-case qualitative research methodology is adopted within the context of the UK government’s building schools for the future programme.

The findings identify that SEIs are encouraged on the innovative projects by the perceived clarity, appropriateness, and manageability of the risks associated with the project’s energy performance on the PFI contract. The main SEIs were largely developed as strategies to manage long-term energy performance risks allocated to private sector actors and safeguard their long-term commitment to the project. However, the findings indicate that excessive perceived innovation-related risks, particularly capital cost risk, may restrict further SEIs to be implemented.

The qualitative case study approach adopted may limit the generalisability of the findings.

The study and provides practical guidance to policymakers and project managers in developing strategies to support the implementation of SEI in PFI projects.

The study attends to a significant gap in knowledge as there is a lack of conceptual and empirical work on managing innovative processes for sustainable energy in PFI projects.

This paper aims to develop an innovation management framework for achieving sustainability by managing risks associated with innovative solutions during the design process.

To achieve the abovementioned aim, a research methodology was designed to achieve four objectives. Firstly, a literature review was conducted to investigate the concepts of sustainability, innovation, innovation management and innovation and the design process. Secondly, three case studies were selected and analysed to validate the identified risks of innovation and to investigate the role of innovation management towards managing risks of innovation during the design process. Thirdly, a survey questionnaire was carried out with a representative sample of architectural design firms (ADFs) in Egypt to examine their perception and application of innovation management as an approach to managing risks of innovative solutions during the design process. Finally, developing an innovation management framework to achieve sustainability through managing risks associated with innovative solutions during the design process.

The literature review revealed that innovation plays a significant role towards achieving sustainability objectives, but integrating innovative solutions during the design process is frequently associated with risks. During the course of this research, 30 risks of innovation were identified and classified into four categories of product, process, person and press. Case studies showed that ADFs that applied innovation management approaches were successful in managing the risks associated with innovative solutions, whereas others that failed to use such approaches failed to meet sustainability objectives. Results of the survey questionnaire revealed that ADFs not only recognised the importance of innovative solutions in developing sustainable projects but also showed a gap between theory and practice. “Project delivery” is the most important type of innovation for ADFs in Egypt, followed by “building technologies” and “organisational culture”. Moreover, there is a misalignment between ADFs’ perceptions and the strategies used to deliver successful innovations. The highest risks of innovation are “unanticipated cost of innovation”, “manufacturing technologies and development issues” and “failing to meet technical criteria”.

Because of the conceptual nature of the developed framework, it has to be tested and validated to ensure its capability to achieve sustainability through managing the risks of innovative solutions during the design process which, in this research, adopted the Royal Institute of British Architects plan of work stages. Moreover, the lack of data availability directed this study to present and analyse only three case studies.

This research presents a practical solution to achieve sustainability through managing risks of innovation during the design process. It is a structured tool that can be used by ADFs in Egypt towards facilitating the shift in the direction of a more economically viable, environmentally friendly and socially acceptable built environment.

Although innovative design solutions are needed in developing sustainable buildings, a practical and systematic framework to manage associated risks during the design process is still lacking. In addition, current studies are business-oriented and need to be reinterpreted to fit with the architectural, engineering and construction disciplines. Thus, this research developed an innovation management framework to achieve sustainability through managing the risks associated with innovative solutions during the design process, which represents a synthesis that is novel and creative in thought and adds value to the knowledge in a manner that has not been previously explored.

This article aims to establish a dynamic Energy Performance Contract (EPC) risk allocation model for commercial buildings based on the theory of Incomplete Contract. The purpose is to fill the policy vacuum and allow stakeholders to manage risks in energy conservation management by EPCs to better adapt to climate change in the building sector.

The article chooses a qualitative research approach to depict the whole risk allocation picture of EPC projects and establish a dynamic EPC risk allocation model for commercial buildings in China. It starts with a comprehensive literature review on risks of EPCs. By modifying the theory of Incomplete Contract and adopting the so-called bow-tie model, a theoretical EPC risk allocation model is developed and verified by interview results. By discussing its application in the commercial building sector in China, an operational EPC three-stage risk allocation model is developed.

This study points out the contract incompleteness of the risk allocation for EPC projects and offered an operational method to guide practice. The reasonable risk allocation between building owners and Energy Service Companies can realize their bilateral targets on commercial building energy-saving benefits, which makes EPC more attractive for energy conservation.

Existing research focused mainly on static risk allocation. Less research was directed to the phased and dynamic risk allocation. This study developed a theoretical three-stage EPC risk allocation model, which provided the theoretical support for dynamic EPC risk allocation of EPC projects. By addressing the contract incompleteness of the risk allocation, an operational method is developed. This is a new approach to allocate risks for EPC projects in a dynamic and staged way.

In the current economic scenario characterized by turbulence, innovation is a requisite for company's growth. The innovation activities are implemented through the realization of innovative project. This paper aims to prospect the promising opportunities coming from the application of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to project risk management for organizational innovation, where a large amount of data supports the decision-making process within the companies and the organizations.

Moving from a structured literature review (SLR), a final sample of 42 papers has been analyzed through a descriptive, content and bibliographic analysis. Moreover, metrics for measuring the impact of the citation index approach and the CPY (Citations per year) have been defined. The descriptive and cluster analysis has been realized with VOSviewer, a tool for constructing and visualizing bibliometric networks and clusters.

Prospective future developments and forthcoming challenges of ML applications for managing risks in projects have been identified in the following research context: software development projects; construction industry projects; climate and environmental issues and Health and Safety projects. Insights about the impact of ML for improving organizational innovation through the project risks management are defined.

The study have some limitations regarding the choice of keywords and as well the database chosen for selecting the final sample. Another limitation regards the number of the analyzed papers.

The analysis demonstrated how much the use of ML techniques for project risk management is still new and has many unexplored areas, given the increasing trend in annual scientific publications. This evidence represents an opportunities for supporting the organizational innovation in companies engaged into complex projects whose risk management become strategic.

This paper aims to address wicked sustainability issues lurking behind sensational headlines: “Humanity faces significant and unprecedented challenges on grand, global scales”. Such headlines refer to the span of such challenges as well as their complex roots and consequences. In a cosmic version of the “chicken or the egg” issue, causes and consequences of these grand global challenges are often difficult to distinguish from one another, although distinction is critical to solution derivations. Sustainable Enterprise Excellence, Resilience & Robustness (SEER2) is discussed relative to selected wicked challenges, including ones associated with climate change and human security.

Roots of grand global challenges and the present and future reality they portend are discussed relative to intersections with enterprise strategy, performance and impact.

Social-ecological innovation, big and small data analytics and intelligence and supply chain proficiency are identified as key drivers of enterprise response to grand global challenges. These are embedded in a holistic model for enterprise sustainability, resilience and robustness.

The SEER2 approach to enterprise sustainability, resilience and robustness that emphasizes performance and impact has the capability to aid progress toward more sustainable futures for enterprises and humankind alike.

The SEER2 model leverages business excellence thinking to advance strategic and tactical approaches to enterprise excellence, sustainability, resilience and robustness. As such, the model is distinctly performance-oriented. Performance alone is not sufficient, however, so that impact – financial, societal and ecological – is also deeply embedded.

The purpose of this paper is to broadly explore the contributions of supply chain proficiency in relation to sustainable enterprise excellence, resilience and robustness (SEER2).

A pre-existing SEER2 model, referred to as the Springboard to SEER2, is put under the microscope to determine specific interactions of supply chain proficiency with six key areas of the Springboard: triple top-line strategy and governance; strategy execution via policies, processes and partnerships; financial and marketplace performance and impact; sustainability performance and impact; human ecology and capital performance and impact; and social-ecological and general innovation and continuous improvement performance and impact.

Supply chain proficiency is integral to attainment of SEER2. As such, supply chain proficiency must be thoughtfully and strategically approached, with success critical to enterprise contribution to mitigation or solution of wicked global challenges ranging from climate change, to food insecurity, to societal conflict.

This paper reveals in depth the centrality of supply chain proficiency to SEER2, suggesting that such models as those behind America's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the European Quality Award might be enhanced by more deeply considering supply chain contributions to business and performance excellence. Supply chains are at present peripheral to such models, thereby providing essentially isolated views of enterprises in an age where supply chain collaboration is increasingly the norm.

Sustainable Enterprise Excellence (SEE) is defined and developed through integration and expansion of business excellence modeling and sustainability thought. The intent is to enable simple yet reliable enterprise assessment of triple bottom line (TBL) performance and produce actionable enterprise foresight that can enable next best practices and sources of sustainable competitive advantage through innovation.

Key elements of SEE are identified from various business excellence and sustainability reporting sources, including the Global Reporting Initiative, the UN Global Compact 10 Principles, and criteria of the European Quality Award and America's Baldrige National Quality Award. From these a model and key criteria are distilled, maturity scales developed, and a simple means of assessment presented.

A compact model and supporting maturity assessment approach similar in structure to those behind established excellence awards are developed that enable enterprise assessment of progress toward SEE. The resulting assessment is delivered in a highly consumable, combined narrative and graphic format referred to as a SEE NEWS Report.

The assessment approach presented enables both enterprise progress toward Sustainable Enterprise Excellence and enterprise-to-enterprise comparability. Foresight provided by the assessment enables further advancement.

The social and environmental dimensions of SEE imply that enterprises progressing with respect to its model will of necessity contribute positively to the social fabric.

Sustainable Enterprise Excellence as superior TBL performance resulting from integration of ethical, effective and efficient governance with triple top line strategy is developed, together with a means of maturity assessment.

The purpose of this study is to integrate and extend two models of entrepreneurial intention to investigate the drivers of sustainable entrepreneurial intention among intermediate undergraduate university students in Nigeria. Specifically, this paper aims to introduce education for sustainable entrepreneurship into the integrated model, thereby fitting the model into the context of sustainable entrepreneurship.

Data was gathered with the help of a structured questionnaire from 435 students of a university in Nigeria. The students passed through a special entrepreneurship training in which they were educated on the concept and practice of sustainable entrepreneurship. SmartPLS was used to test the proposed structural model.

The findings revealed that education for sustainable entrepreneurship significantly influences all variables of the integrated model, but has nonsignificant direct influence on sustainable entrepreneurial intention. Sustainable entrepreneurial intention is significantly driven by attitude and propensity to act. Therefore, the inclusion of education for sustainable entrepreneurship into the regression equation adds to its explanatory power.

This study contributes toward understanding of sustainable entrepreneurial intention of intermediate university students in a developing world context – Nigeria. Above all, it is among the few studies that shed light on the strength of education for sustainable entrepreneurship in the formation of sustainable entrepreneurial intention among students. This study proposes integration and extension (by adding education for sustainable entrepreneurship) of the theory of planned behavior and entrepreneurial event model in learning about students’ intentions to engage in sustainable entrepreneurship.