The cooperative model: intermediary for eco-innovation and sustainable development
The International Co-operative Alliance has encouraged co-operatives worldwide to pursue the sustainable development goals (SDG’s) and to be part of the solution to reduce inequality, fight poverty, and improve environmental outcomes (ICA, 2017). In order to transition towards a more environmentally sustainable world, we need technological, organisational and policy innovation. Co-operatives are a unique type of self-organised and collaborative organisational and business model, which gives them the potential to act as intermediary organisations which can support eco-innovation both amongst their members, within the co-op but also throughout the business network.
In this session we will explore co-operatives’ potential role in eco-innovation through social capital theory and as intermediary actors that create spaces and processes of interaction, joint activities and problem-solving to enable eco-innovation
Date
Time
Organizer
International Co-operative Alliance
Phone
+32 (2) 743 10 30Website
https://www.ica.coop/Trainer
Dr. Sidsel GrimstadDr. Sidsel Grimstad , is a lecturer and researcher in the Newcastle Business School at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. She has been the Program Convener and designer of Australia’s only postgraduate degree in co-operatives that has been offered at the University of Newcastle the last 4 years. Sidsel was also co-chair for the 14th ICA Asia Pacific Research Conference which was held in Newcastle, Australia in December 2019.
Sidsel’s first degree is in agriculture, followed by a Master of Business Administration and a PhD where she explored drivers of environmental behaviour among small agriculture based tourism clusters in Norway and Australia. Her PhD research revealed the strong role co-operatives can play in supporting eco-innovation and SDGs both for itself, but also for all members and the community.
As a Norwegian, Sidsel grew up in one of the World’s most co-operative countries, she has lived in housing co-operatives, been member of a consumer co-op, and has worked with agricultural co-ops. She has a past experience working in agricultural and environmental policy-making in Norway and has published on the history of the Norwegian Commons. She has worked for the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development supporting rural and agricultural development project in Francophone Africa involving Women’s Credit and Savings Groups. She was a senior advisor at the International Centre for Environment and Development Studies, at the Norwegian University of Life Science, before moving to Australia 17 years ago.
Her research focus is around understanding how businesses or individuals collaborate for mutual economic, environmental and social outcomes. She is currently looking at how co-operatives can operate as efficient intermediaries for eco-innovation. She is currently undertaking research for the Australian Research Council looking at the social, environmental and economic value of cooperative housing. She is further involved in understanding the barriers to co-operative formation in the agricultural and housing sector in Australia.