Partnerships are seen as way to develop sustainable solutions in developing countries, and are supported through Danish international development cooperation instruments and other initiatives. In this thesis, the focus is on bridging through partnership innovation within access2innovation – an association facilitating partnerships mainly in East Africa.

The aim of the thesis is to investigate how technology is socially constructed in partnership innovation for developing countries, and how sustainable and inclusive innovation can be co-constructed. It draws empirically from access2innovation case studies within Solid Waste Management (SWM) in Vietnam and Uganda. The research is motivated by knowledge gaps regarding sustainability and inclusivity in business modeling and technology development, by considerations towards inclusivity across geographical contexts/ cultures and by applying a socio-technical understanding to inform partnership innovation processes.

The thesis is based on action research and participant observation, guided by Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA). Promoting sustainable and inclusive innovation is found to rest upon e.g. understanding of socio-technical systems, structuring for proactive intake of knowledge and bridging through balancing of representation among actors. The findings contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals agenda, including research, policy and practice especially with respect to Goal 17 dealing with partnerships.

assessment committee

Associate Professor Rikke Lybæk | Department of People and Technology, Roskilde University, Denmark
Director, Ph.D. Michael Yhdego | Environmental Resources Consultancy
Associate Professor Carla Smink (Chairman) | Department of Planning, Aalborg University, Denmark

supervisor

Professor Arne Remmen | Department of Planning, Aalborg University, Denmark

moderator

Associate Professor Søren Kerndrup | Department of Planning, Aalborg University, Denmark

please register for this event here no later than 16th January 2019