Sustainability and Innovation: Technologies and Business Models that Address the Sustainability Crisis

UBC Sauder School of Business Canada

Title: Sustainability and Innovation: Technologies and Business Models that Address the Sustainability Crisis
Instructor: Dr. Justin Bull, Full-Time Lecturer, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group

 

Course Summary

What if the future was a customer? What would a purchase order from the year 2030 look like? What kind of business models and technologies will meet the needs of 8.5 billion people while addressing the climate crisis and resource depletion?

 

This course will review the trends, tools, and technologies at the intersection of sustainability and innovation. The focus will be on sustainability not as a source of cost, but as an opportunity to innovate.

 

We will look at emergent technologies – such as 3D printing, artificial intelligence, the Internet-of-Things (IOT), and blockchain platforms – that will be major drivers of economic growth that also improve environmental and social performance. We will also look at business models that leverage asset sharing, usage-based pricing, agile manufacturing, and circular production to help shrink footprints.

 

Course content will be delivered by both faculty and successful tech entrepreneurs. In addition, visits to local technology firms will expose participants to the course themes as they apply to dynamic business environments.

 

Learning Outcomes

 

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

 

  • Identify new and disruptive business models that are poised to drive economic growth will driving more sustainable outcomes.
  • Understand how new technologies offer opportunities to drive growth while improving environmental and social performance.
  • Articulate how investment capital will play a leading role in driving better returns while supporting sustainable innovation.