This qualitative action research explores integration of Strategic Sustainable Development (SSD) at Inova business incubator (Karlstad, Sweden). Researchers and incubator agreed that planning with sustainability in mind at a very early stage of company development may have important impacts on future business success and societal welfare. The objective was to answer how SSD could be integrated into the processes at Inova and how Inova staff’s and entrepreneurs’ understanding of sustainability demonstrably evolve after exposure to SSD. Apart from general research methods, SSD methods and tools were used with three entrepreneurs and business incubator staff. The Five Level Framework for Planning and Decision-making in complex systems and the Templates for Sustainable Product Development approach were central to the study. Inova staff and entrepreneurs began to develop; an understanding of business’ dependence on and relationship to broader societal and ecological systems; and an ability to use backcasting from the basic socio-ecological principles of sustainability in business planning. In turn they experienced an increased capacity to identify sustainability related business risks and opportunities. A new incubation process integrating SSD was created. Although the outcome is specific to Inova, it is general enough for other assistance organizations to gain insight from. In conclusion, SSD should be integrated as early as possible in the business planning of start up companies. Organizations with a mission of assisting entrepreneurs have an important role to play In further research it is recommended that visionary sustainability leaders are identified and tracked from start up.

The Templates for Sustainable Product Development (TSPD) is a tool for sustainability practitioners to assist product development teams with bringing sustainability considerations to the early phases of product development in a strategic, quick and resource-efficient way. This thesis project builds on the earlier TSPD work by investigating the ways in which sustainability practitioners could apply the TSPD in order to improve the outcomes. The factors influencing the quality of the outcomes of a TSPD application were investigated. Then, support was developed for use by sustainability practitioners to address these factors. This support was field tested and refined in four iterations. It was discovered that achieving high quality outcomes from a TSPD application is dependent on having both high quality strategic sustainable product development content and high quality facilitation of the people considering this content. The quality of both content and facilitation influences the participants’ level of engagement, which influences the quality of the outcomes of the TSPD application. The support was developed such that it assists sustainability practitioners in addressing both content and facilitation through a participatory approach. There is some evidence that use of the developed support contributed to both high level of participants’ engagement and high quality outcomes of the TSPD applications. / <p>Blog at http://sustainableproductdevelopment.blogspot.se/</p>

This research aims to shed insights and produce supportive tools to help stimulate the design of education programs. First a characterization of opportunities and challenges for education programs is given from a global sustainability standpoint. Second a characterization of what education programs may contain and take into account from a full sustainability standpoint, as an outline of education programs in a desired future at a principle level, is provided to help inspire purpose-led education services organizations. Third an outline of possible tools and strategies to help strategically close the gap between the current unsustainable state and the desired sustainable future is provided. A special focus is put on the Template for Sustainable Product Development (TSPD) process tool, originally used to help industries in their production chain, but here adapted as the “Sustainability Potential” Express Strategic Assessment for Education Programs to benefit education programs stakeholders. The authors also propose a set of three abilities acting in synergy: Creativity, “Knowledge Making” &amp; “Open Values” (CKMOV) that are at the heart of Strategic Sustainable Development and thus may help form three equally vital pillars, which education programs may strategically take support from while helping society transition to a sustainable equilibrium. / <p>+86 13637758331</p>