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GIN2008
Conference:
Facilitating Sustainable Innovations
Sustainable Innovation as a Tool
for Regional Development
June
26-28, 2008
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Co-organized by
The Greening of Industry Network
The Cartesius Institute The
Province of Fryslân
Conference
Program
Conference
Brochure REGISTER
HERE
Requirements and Guidelines for Papers and Presentations
General Registration Deadline — June 1, 2008
Registration Deadline for Accepted Presenters — May 1, 2008
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Setting
the Agenda
Innovation is
considered a major driving force in sustainable economic development.
Regions may play an important role in this process utilizing undiscovered
resources and being as a breeding ground for innovation. Releasing regional
potential will stimulate the development of new products and services
by businesses and other stakeholders. The regional perspective is also
vital in sustainable development. The concept of sustainability is often
discussed at the national or even global level. Yet, processes of sustainable
development find their origin and the potential mostly at the local and
regional level. It is at these levels that sustainable development is
actually influencing people, current practices and routines.
The challenge
that we raise with this conference is how to evoke on a regional scale
successful innovations, also commercially successful, within a shifting
paradigm towards sustainable development. A big step forward would be
removing barriers among companies, academic research, and the public sector.
The GIN2008 conference will bring together policy makers, researchers,
and business leaders to
work together responding to the conference challenge:
How do we create a context in which sustainable innovations can
succeed?
In March
2000 the European Council launched the Lisbon Strategy, aimed at making
the European Union the most competitive economy. The Gothenburg European
Council added the sustainable dimension to the strategy. However, the
mid-term review in 2005 showed "unconvincing results." Since
regions play a key role in sustainable development, innovation, and economic
development, this conference aims at learning from the most promising
regional programs around the world. An important issue in this respect
is the way innovations can contribute to the European goals for economic
competitiveness and sustainable development as stipulated in the
Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs and the
Gothenburg Strategy on Sustainable Development.
Themes
The conference reviews some outstanding regional programs on sustainable
innovations to foster interregional cooperation in the field and enables
participants to learn from innovative practices in the world. A concept
that is getting increasing attention in this regard is Cradle-to-Cradle.
This framework seeks to create production techniques, buildings, and regions
that are not just efficient but are essentially waste-free. Eco-efficiency
("doing less bad") is replaced by eco-effectiveness ("doing
good"). Cradle-to-Cradle sounds attractive, but requires fundamental
innovations to current systems. One of the questions to be asked at the
conference is, what the potential is of this concept in a regional setting?
This question is especially salient given the many initiatives that have
been developed during the last year. Thematically, the conference focuses
on innovations in energy, water, space, mobility, health, education, communication,
and industry.
GIN2008
Call for Participation: The Call is now closed.
Requirements
and Guidelines for Papers and Presentations
Accepted
presenters must register for the conference by May 1 and must follow these
Requirements and Guidelines for Papers and Presentations.
The conference
program committee invited representatives of academia, business, government,
NGOs, and civil society organizations to submit
proposals by March 31, 2008 according to the GIN2008
Call for Participation for papers, presentations, posters,
and innovation demonstrations that reflect the conference themes.
• Examples
of sustainable innovations;
• Strategies
and instruments for sustainable innovations;
• Experiences
with Cradle-to-Cradle in a regional perspective;
• Other
approaches to local and regional sustainability, including LA21 and sustainable
cities;
• Innovative
collaborative schemes among research, business, and government;
• Building
competencies for sustainable innovations.
Proposals
have been subjected to independent review, and final decision made by
the conference programme committee. The committee is chaired by Yoram
Krozer, director of the Cartesius Institute. Accepted papers will be added
to the GIN Conference proceedings archive that hold all conference material
of GIN conferences 1998-present.
Time
Table
March 31 Call for Proposals closes
April 11 Notification of accepted
proposals
May 1 Registration deadline
for accepted presenters
June 1 General Registration
Deadline
June 13 Full papers/posters/presentations
due electronically
June 26-28 GIN2008 Conference
Conference
Outcome: Creating Sustainable Pathways
The conference outcome will be a manifesto with concrete recommendations
on how to create sustainable innovations on a regional level and how to
radically renew the regional context. All sessions at the conference will
contribute to the manifesto.
Edited
Book on Sustainability and Innovation
An edited book is expected to be an outcome of the GIN2008 Conference
on the theme of Sustainability and Innovation. The book will be edited
by Joseph Sarkis, Professor of Operations and Environmental Management,
Clark University. In the spirit of GIN we will encourage inclusion of
the many stakeholders who participate in the Network. Expected contributions
will include practical case studies and lessons learned, conceptual and
theoretical chapters, empirical, and modeling applications. The book will
have sections based on these three main categories. The chapters to be
included will go through editorial review and input from GIN's publishing
committee. We encourage potential contributors to contact Joseph
Sarkis by email at jsarkis.clarku.edu
before the conference.
Conference
Program
The conference will open on Thursday morning June 26 at 10.00h and will
close on Saturday afternoon June 28 at 15.30h. The agenda includes plenary
addresses, panel debates, breakout sessions, and a market floor. Included
in the full program are a visit to the Frisian Solar Challenge and a dinner
cruise on the Frisian Lakes on Friday afternoon and evening. Most of the
breakout sessions are scheduled on Saturday, June 28. The Frisian
Solar Challenge is a race among boats running solely on solar energy
along the course of the Elfstedentocht,
the famous speed skating contest held during severe winters.
Conference
Brochure Registration,
Travel, Hotels
Requirements
and Guidelines for Papers and Presentations
Contact
Papers and Presentations: greening@cstm.utwente.nl
For
general conference information, you may contact Marike van der Geest at
Noordplan, tel 31 (0)58 - 213 78 88 or info@noordplan.nl.
Please
mark your calendars: June 26-28, 2008!
GIN2008
Conference
Facilitating Sustainable Innovations
Sustainable Innovation as a Tool
for Regional Development
June
26-28, 2008
Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
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