Green Gown Awards 2021: Research with Impact – Institution - Lancaster University - Highly Commended

Thinking globally, working locally: Co-developing net zero solutions at scale

The Centre for Global Eco-innovation (CGE) is a nationally leading interdisciplinary initiative focused on practical place-based solution-driven sustainable innovation. It brings together cross-disciplinary expertise across environmental, biological, and physical sciences, engineering, social sciences, business, and design at Lancaster University into cross-sector partnerships to co-develop solutions that enable people and planet to prosper.

CGE has engaged with more than 700 SMEs across the North West, since 2012 enabling businesses to access world-leading interdisciplinary research expertise, facilities, and international partnerships. It has supported more than 100 PhD and 50 MRes studentships. This experience places it as a national leader in SME partnership-working for sustainable innovation.

CGE has expanded this model of ‘thinking globally and acting locally’ beyond the region, successfully co-delivering the place-based eco-innovation model through the pan-African Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supported RECIRCULATE project. Founded in 2016, this project has extended our learning to seven research partners across Africa in Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, Botswana, Zambia, and Kenya.

Top 3 learnings:

1. For economies, communities, and ecosystems to thrive together we all must commit to co-designing solutions.
2. Place-based innovation is a powerful approach to create solutions that work in local contexts.
3. We believe every innovation needs to be an eco-innovation to meet global net-zero targets.

Videos

• Video #1 (click to hide)