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Universities, Industries and Sustainable Development

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 19510

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Angelo Paletta

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Guest Editor

Department of Management, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
Interests: universities’ governance and accountability; educational management and leadership; circular economy; sustainable development

Prof. Dr. Alessandra Bonoli

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering (DICAM), Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna, 40131 Bologna, Italy
Interests: sustainability in building and construction; waste recycling; circular economy; life cycle assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A growing number of universities around the world are committed to integrating the principles of sustainable development into teaching, research, and campus operations, but many critical questions remain about collaboration with industries to advancing sustainable business models. In this Special Issue, we are interested in deepening the way in which the different collaboration models between universities, businesses, and other public and private actors can bring together the knowledge, resources, and technologies necessary to face the challenges of sustainable development, with particular regard to training the necessary skills to create the rigorous research-based knowledge necessary for the innovation of technologies and business models; support and incubate innovation for sustainable development solutions; and collaborate with businesses and government at all levels and civil society to promote policy development for sustainable production and consumption. We are interested in deepening in our knowledge of the sectors of the circular economy (including, resource efficiency, 3R, zero-carbon economy, bioeconomy) in which university research can help to advance technology, innovation, regulations and markets, contributing to the current debate on the networking between research, education/training, and commercial activities to facilitate the implementation of a circular economy.

Prof. Dr. Angelo Paletta
Prof. Dr. Alessandra Bonoli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Integrating the principles of sustainable development into teaching, research, and campus operations
Collaboration with industries to advancing sustainable business models
Training the skills to create the rigorous research-based knowledge necessary for sustainable development
Supporting and incubating innovation for sustainable development solutions
Circular economy areas where university research can help to advance technology, innovation, regulation, and markets
Contribution of universities to improving the development of smart policies for sustainability and clean growth
Networking and cross-contamination among research, education, and business in the implementation of a circular economy
Innovative institutional solutions (consortia, public–private partnerships, star-ups, incubators, etc.) for collaboration between universities and industries for sustainable development

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 1175 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrating SDG 12 into Business Studies through Intercultural Virtual Collaboration

by Luana Ferreira-Lopes, Ingrid Van Rompay-Bartels, Maria José Bezanilla and Iciar Elexpuru-Albizuri

Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9024; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14159024 - 22 Jul 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2428

Abstract

Intercultural Virtual Collaboration (IVC) has been a growing field in recent decades as it allows students from different cultures to work together without having to move physically. Besides providing students with an authentic experience that they are going to encounter in their future professional careers in increasingly globalised and digitised workplaces, more recently, IVC has also been used as a means to engage university students from different cultures in social and political issues that are common across societies. In this paper, we present an analysis of an IVC project that involved undergraduate Business students from a university in Spain and a university in the Netherlands where students from both universities were asked to collaborate online to develop a business case to analyse how companies communicate about the way they integrate SDGs in the different cultures involved. A content analysis of group reports delivered by students was carried out. In addition, intercultural competence development was measured through a questionnaire. Results show that the IVC project contributed to raising students’ awareness of how companies approach SDGs and adapt their products to different cultures. Students were also perceived to have developed intercultural knowledge, intercultural virtual teamwork, intercultural attitudes and intercultural awareness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Universities, Industries and Sustainable Development)

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24 pages, 1228 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Key Factors of AS Performance in Emerging Central and Eastern European Countries: Evidence from Romania

by Lavinia Maria Mihali, Sabina Potra, Luisa Izabel Dungan, Romeo Negrea and Adrian Cioabla

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8328; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148328 - 7 Jul 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1568

Abstract

The concept of academic spin-off (AS) has witnessed an increase in attention due to its effectiveness in solving industry problems using core technology and knowledge from academia. Most studies based on US and western Europe experiences have presented the main key factors for academic spin-offs. The present study aims to address a literature gap regarding AS survival factor identification for central and eastern European countries, to relate resource groups with these key factors from a literature perspective, and to statistically investigate the long-term performance of academic spin-offs in Romania, an eastern European country that has only recently understood the opportunity academic spin-offs offer for national and regional development. Since EU programs are setting the scene for AS development, this research brings new insights for university strategic management to achieve sustainable regional growth by proposing a novelty spin-off key factor specific to central and eastern European countries: team competency in accessing government funds. Since these emerging economies face similar challenges regarding AS formation and development, statistical evidence from Romania is insightful and valuable. Data were collected on Romanian AS companies founded from 2006–2010, and eleven survival factors were investigated within a quantitative survey to understand which had a significant impact on AS performance. By using Pearson’s correlation matrix and a Cobb–Douglas nonlinear regression model, this study validated two research hypotheses that, in Romania, the quality of scientific support received from a university or research center during the development of a product and the competency of a team in accessing government funds were the most important factors having nonlinear influences on AS performance. Their positive and negative influences were furthermore discussed, and managerial implications were outlined. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Universities, Industries and Sustainable Development)

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20 pages, 1666 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Influences of Innovation Climate and Resource Endowments through Two Types of University–Industry Collaborative Activities on Regional Sustainable Development

by Shu Yu, Shuangshuang Zhang and Takaya Yuizono

Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7559; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147559 - 6 Jul 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1984

Abstract

“Innovation driven” is the proper term for promoting regional sustainable development under the general goal of national high-quality development. University–industry collaboration (UIC) has become an important innovation resource for regional sustainable development. The study aims to analyze the influencing factors and mediating mechanisms of university–industry collaboration scientific and technological (S&T) and business activities oriented for regional sustainable development in 30 provinces in China (excluding Tibet). Specifically, we used the partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling method to test the effects of innovation climate and resource endowments on regional sustainable development through two mode pathways of university–industry collaboration activities. The results show that the innovation climate and resource endowments significantly affect UIC in scientific and technological innovation activities, and then affect the regional economic development and human capital. UIC S&T innovation activities play positive mediating roles in promoting regional sustainable development. In addition, the innovation climate does not significantly impact the business activities of UIC. Therefore, region can get a greater sustainable development through UIC S&T innovation activities than business activities. Much more UIC S&T activities can improve the economic development, human capital, and environmental conditions in the region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Universities, Industries and Sustainable Development)

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Review

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39 pages, 1280 KiB

Open AccessReview

Critical Factors and Performance Measurement of Business Incubators: A Systematic Literature Review

by Photchanaphisut Pattanasak, Tanyanuparb Anantana, Boontarika Paphawasit and Ratapol Wudhikarn

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4610; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14084610 - 12 Apr 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4678

Abstract

Business incubators (BIs) are important supporters for young businesses, since they provide firms with physical facilities and intangible support. Existing literature reviews focusing on BIs have neglected to consider individual factors in their success in favor of combining key performance measurements to identify their development targets. This systematic literature review thus aimed to combine studies that examined specific issues pertaining to BI performance and related key performance indicators to measure their activities. We conducted a systematic literature review based on two research questions: the first research question concerned critical factors for BIs’ performance; the second concerned their performance measurements. To ensure that we covered crucial factors and indicators of the latest generation of BIs, our systematic procedure included 74 studies published between 2005 and 2020 that were read in full and revealed ten critical factors that particularly emphasized financial resources and networking. We identified six categories for performance measurement, placing the greatest emphasis on the measurement of social capital. We recommend that academic researchers and BIs prioritize the intangible factors that constitute organizations’ hidden value. This review thus provides novel findings by identifying common critical factors for BIs’ performance and offering guidelines for performance measurement that consider BIs’ intangible assets and trends for future studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Universities, Industries and Sustainable Development)

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18 pages, 3365 KiB

Open AccessReview

Organizational Change Management for Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic Quantitative Literature Review

by Nicola Andreij Rieg, Birgitta Gatersleben and Ian Christie

Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7299; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137299 - 29 Jun 2021

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 7843

Abstract

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been urged to integrate sustainability across all their structural and organizational dimensions. A promising area of research and practice that can help to deliver this is organizational change management for sustainability. While this field has received increasing attention over the past decade, a comprehensive assessment is still lacking. Therefore, a systematic quantitative review was carried out to summarize and synthesize the academic literature on organizational change management approaches that aim to holistically embed sustainability in HEIs. Furthermore, this review aims to illustrate what change factors have been observed and how they have been analyzed, and from this highlight implications for practice and pathways for future research. The literature reviewed puts strong emphasis on change processes and human factors, as well as elements of the institutional framework, such as vision and strategy. The findings highlight the value of strategic and reflective actions, the importance of understanding and actively shaping change processes, and that change towards sustainability requires broad stakeholder input and commitment. This review serves as an important reference point for future research and practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Universities, Industries and Sustainable Development)

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