Knowledge collaboration & learning for sustainable innovation: an introduction to this special volume (Editorial)

Abstract

This Special Volume is divided into two parts: the first part with seventeen articles (compiled by Rodrigo Lozano, Francisco J. Lozano, Karel Mulder, Donald Huisingh, and Tom Waas) focuses on the EMSU conference stream; whilst the second part with eleven papers (compiled by Jaco Quist and Arnold Tukker) focus on the ERSCP conference stream. The EMSU conference stream focused on the roles of Higher Educational Institutions, which, have been at the forefront in creating and changing paradigms, and educating future decisionmakers, entrepreneurs, and academic leaders. The articles contained in the EMSU portion of this Special Volume contribute to answering the questions: 1. Are universities leading in the development of sustainable development mental models and paradigms and in transferring the related sustainable development (SD) memes to their students or are they reacting to stimuli from society and thus the SD memes are being transferred to the universities from the society? 2. What can university leaders and their faculty members do to ensure that sustainable development becomes an integral part of the University’s culture? An overview and critical discussion is provided by Lozano et al. (in this special volume). Collectively, the articles provide an encouraging, holistic, and trans-disciplinary perspective on higher education for SD via articles that provide critical reflections on methodological perspectives where ‘the sciences meet the arts’. The articles were designed to help to encourage educators, globally to engage in SD initiatives within and outside their universities.