What's New

Recent GIN Event:

We were delighted to participate in the GIN 2012 Conference “Support your future today! Turning environmental challenges into business opportunities". Our conference was held from October 22-24 in Linköpig, Sweden. The East Swedish region is well known for its "Triple Helix", (i.e. a strong cooperation links between industry, government and knowledge institutes), innovative SMEs, Clean Technology and bio-fuel production synergies. Furthermore, East Sweden, like Sweden overall, scores very high in R&D investments, the number of patents per capita, and the application of renewable energy. Therefore, there were plenty of opportunities for knowledge exchange and inspirational ambiance during the GIN 2012 conference and stay in Linköpig. Please visit the conference website: http://www.gin2012.se/

Recent Journal Special Issues:

• Managing Wind Power Deployment in Europe, European Environment (17:5 September-October 2007, Wiley). Special issue drawing on the Wind Power Track of the GIN2006 Cardiff conference. 

• Integration and Communication - A Clear Route to Sustainability? Business Strategy and the Environment (16:5 July 2007, Wiley). Special issue drawing on the 2006 conference of the Greening of Industry Network.  

• Technological Change and Regulation in the Car Industry, Greener Management International (Issue 47). Go to Greenleaf Publishing. Special issue drawing on papers and presentations from the GIN2003 conference in San Francisco, Innovating for Sustainability.Guest Edited by Paul Nieuwenhuis and Peter Wells, Cardiff University, UK; Philip J. Vergragt, Tellus Institute, USA.
This special issue of ‘Greener Management International’ attempts to inform the broad and systemic change required in the wider concept of automobility by exploring the role of the regulator, in particular in the context of more recent co-operative and partnership approaches with private-sector stakeholders, particularly the automotive industry. The issue puts regulatory developments within the context of technological change in the automotive sector, specifically the change towards new powertrain solutions, such as hybrid internal combustion-electric and fuel-cell systems.

Latest Book in the GIN Series:

• The Business of Sustainable Mobility: From Vision to Reality, Greenleaf Publishing, ISBN 1 874719 80 2. Go to Greenleaf Publishing.Edited by Paul Nieuwenhuis and Peter Wells, Cardiff University, UK; Philip J. Vergragt, Tellus Institute, USA; drawing on papers and presentations from the GIN2003 conference in San Francisco, Innovating for Sustainability.

IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD, there is a crisis of mobility. The choices we have made over the past 200 years on modes and technologies of transport have brought us unprecedented global interaction and in many respects increased personal freedom. However, all this mobility has come at a cost to society, to the economy and to the environment. Mobility is in crisis, but few seem aware of the full extent of it. Though most people will be aware of congestion, accidents (although this aspect is often overlooked), parking restrictions or fuel prices, few will have considered the effects of the dramatic increase in mobility expected in China, India and elsewhere. Nor do many people in their daily lives consider the impact of climate change on our environment and the contribution our cars make to it. It is often thought that technology alone can solve this problem. For some observers, salvation could be achieved by means of hydrogen fuel cells, by hybrid cars, or by increased fuel efficiency, or even by telematics to reduce congestion. This book shows that ‘technology’ may well not be enough in itself and that for a genuinely sustainable transport future far more radical change — affecting many aspects of society — is needed. It is likely, for example, that new business models are needed, as well as users and consumers adopting new forms of behaviour. Disruptive technological innovation may well contribute, but needs to be induced by a combination of market forces and government regulation.