The Green Innovation and Future Technologies (GIFT) Concept

The GIFT concept hinges on integrated stakeholder engagement between government agencies, HEIs, SMEs, economic support groups and rural development groups, underpinned by a learning community philosophy. Once conceived, GIFT gathered cross-country/regional HEI colleagues from the natural, social and physical sciences to pursue the design, development and delivery of a collaborative green innovativeness education programme in interaction with the wider regional community. The chapter documents findings around how to leverage innovation in pursuit of green capability development within regions, and concludes with insights into how cross-border innovation and knowledge exchange happen in a green learning community. Finally, the authors propose a framework of regional SME engagement for sustainable development.