Lecture in the framework of the public lecture series Social Enterprise and Social Innovation
Against the backdrop of current political debates around the implementation of Circular Economy principles in the EU, our research investigates how firms and organizations respond to these imperatives and to what extent common practices tend to change. The lecture will first introduce the conceptual and methodological framing of this research question before presenting preliminary findings from case study research in Luxembourg and Sweden, conducted in the building sector, the automotive industry as well as across a diverse range of community/transition initiatives.
Christian Schulz works as a Full Professor in the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning at the University of Luxembourg since 2006. Trained as an economic geographer in Germany, France and Canada, he received a double Master’s degree from the University of the Saarland (Germany) and from the University of Metz (France). Together with Julia Affolderbach (Hull/UK) he recently published the book Green Building Transitions: Regional Trajectories of Innovation in Europe, Canada and Australia (Springer, 2018). He currently works on sustainability transitions with a focus on the challenges and opportunities of post-growth dynamics.
********
The lecture series ‘Social Enterprise and Social Innovation’ explores social innovation and social enterprise as approach to address environmental and social challenges of sustainability. Diverse legal, financial and business models, and stakeholder relations aspects are discussed. One overarching theme is defining, measuring and reporting on the common good and sustainable value creation in a pluralist society.