H2O – T2S: H2O – T2S in Urban Fringe Areas

Rapid urbanization is transforming societies and physical spaces in the Global South fundamentally. The main loci of this transformation are urban fringe areas. They serve the resource-hungry urban core with natural resources and labour, at the cost of increased resource vulnerabilities like water provisions for the population in these urban fringes. Our research aims at understanding how these transformations lead to changes in access to water and water demands, how these are governed, and which consequences these changes have for the local populations.

The project will investigate changes during the urban transformations in three connected areas of study: (1) water governance and institutions, (2) access to water mediated by societal structures, (3) livelihoods and the resulting water demands. The insights from these studies will be used in the co-creation of transformation pathways for sustainable water management. A comparative analysis will be undertaken for the cities of Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad in India. The project will establish a stakeholder dialogue based on evidence from the research. Participation of government agencies, local communities and key scientific experts will add to the knowledge generated by the project researchers and will be essential for the co-creation of transformation pathways.

Through these activities, the project H2O – T2S contributes to understanding the drivers of vulnerability and resilience of periurban communities and helps to identify more sustainable future pathways. The outcomes will be a step towards the development of future cities built on sustainable principles.

Project leader: Prof. S. Janakarajan, South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies (SaciWATERs), Shreya Chakraborty, South Asia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Water Resources Studies (SaciWATERs)

Principal investigators: Dr. C. Butsch, University of Cologne (Germany), Dr. L. Hermans, Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands) 

 

IPACST: The Role of Intellectual Property to Accelerate Sustainability Transitions

IPACST develops evidence-based insights into intellectual property (IP) models and how they can help to accelerate sustainability transition. Effective transitions to sustainability are urgent global challenges, however require innovation with complex diffusion and adoption processes. The role of IP and IP rights (IPR) in sustainability transitions remains insufficiently understood. Certain IP models can delay transitions by blocking innovative technologies, increasing transaction costs and prolonging lifecycles of existing technologies. With appropriate IP models knowledge sharing can flourish, technology transfer becomes accelerated enabling collaborative learning and sustainable nurturing innovations.

The project will build interdisciplinary research that furthers our understanding of transition processes with a focus on the role of IP models (e.g. patent pools and pledges, licensing, open source) and sustainability. The research team will work with relevant stakeholders in ecosystems for sustainable innovations including companies, policymakers, funding organizations and start-up incubators, to select and govern suitable IP models for sustainable business models, supporting sustainable technologies, production and consumption patterns.

Based on the results, IPACST will provide best-practice cases, guidelines, and training for key stakeholders such as policy makers, businesses and educational institutions. This may enable selecting appropriate IP models and accelerate the creation and diffusion of sustainable innovations.

Project leader: Prof. E. Eppinger, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (Germany)

Principal investigators: Dr. A. Gurtoo, Indian Institute of Science (India), Prof. N. Bocken, Lund University (Sweden), Dr. F. Tietze, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)