Good Place Innovators

Good Place Innovators research fellows, Lekhana and Farshad, have taken over the podcast interviewer chair and put the project leader Dr Radka Newton on the spot to find out about her motivation for the place-based debate. Originally, the project had a fairly straightforward objective to produce a digital learning resource. The ultimate outcome is so much richer, introducing a concept of regenerative curriculum, focus on plurality of opinions and the role of place in our learning. Radka promises to make the podcast series into a learning resource, watch this space!

Resources:

Conference | Good Place Innovators (lancs.ac.uk)

Design Thinking and Innovation postgraduate course

Home - Lancaster City Centre business improvement district (lancasterbid.org)

News - Lancaster BID

Flexing the empathy muscle | Good Place Innovators (lancs.ac.uk)

We’ve something valuable to offer our lovely city | Good Place Innovators (lancs.ac.uk)

Prof Steve Kempster has dedicated his academic career to exploring leadership learning, purpose and social impact of leadership. In his latest publication "Good dividends: Responsible leadership of business purpose", Steve proposes a holistic appraisal of our organisations providing a path towards good growth. We challenge Steve on what is “good” and learn about the importance of stewardship in place where we do business . We strongly recommend you watch the Pink Floyd Us and Them song video to appreciate Steve’s imminent call for action.

Resources:

Bendell, J. (2018) From Denial to Deep Adaptation: Seeking leadership amidst climate tragedy. Poetics of Leadership Conference, University of Cumbria, September 7th-8th.

Kempster, S., Maak, T. and Parry, K. (2019) Good Dividends: Responsible leadership of business purpose. New York: Routledge.

Yang, H. (2010). Moral capitalism. Journal of International Business Ethics, 3(2), 80-81.

Young, S. (2003) Moral capitalism: Reconciling private interest with the public good. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Donaldson and Walsh (2021) Towards a theory of business. Research in Organizational Behaviour, 35: 181-207.

Peter Harrison, Managing Director at FGH Security Ltd and an innovator of the security industry focusing on keeping people safe, tells us a story of his company that came out of an idea born on Lancaster University Campus. Pete’s passion about our place and his appreciation of the locality is truly inspirational. Did you know that the armchairs you are sat on at the University are most likely made from Pete’s recycled security uniforms?

Resources:

Timeline - FGH Security

BBC - Dragons' Den - Entrepreneurs - Peter Harrison and Wesley Downham

We faced the Dragons in their Den and won - but turned them down - LancsLive

Sarah Rees, Head of Stakeholder Relations at Lancaster University, reminds us that it takes time to build relationship, trust and listen to our community needs. Sarah’s role is to connect our large and complex organisation to the community and make it more accessible opening our doors to our beautiful Campus. But it is not just about the community to come to us! This episode gives an insight into how we, as a University, go about being a good citizen of our city, region and also of our global places.

Resources:

Lancaster University reaffirms commitment to the city | Lancaster University

Engagement | Lancaster University

Jo Telfer, Head of Behavioural Insights at Sellafield Ltd and a Leader in Residence at Lancaster University Management School, talks to us about technology innovation and socio-economic commitment of large organisation in their place of West Cumbria. Jo reminds us of the unique technological innovation that was born from the region and helps us understand the grounded and no-nonsense culture that penetrates the work at Sellafield. Jo emphasizes the role of history and context of places and encourages students to celebrate being a part of the University history.

Resources:

Sellafield Ltd - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Job done: Sellafield plant safely completes its mission - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Sellafield Ltd - Social Impact Strategy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Dr Josi Fernandez, a Lancaster University researcher in socio-spatial performance of markets, challenges our place-based view with a notion of stigmatisation of places that leads to diminished investment and exclusion from public policy and economic development. Josi brings her research findings from Brazilian favelas and links them to the potential of our own learning from this within-the-community driven entrepreneurial solutions. Could our place-based agenda be inspired by such innovative community empowerment?

Resources

Fernandes, J, Mason, KJ & Chakrabarti, R 2019, 'Managing to make market agencements: the temporally bound elements of stigma in favelas', Journal of Business Research, vol. 95, pp. 128-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.10.006

Holmes, T, Fernandes, J & Palo, T 2021, ''Spatio-market practices’: conceptualising the always spatial dimensions of market making practices', Academy of Marketing Science Review, vol. 11, no. 3-4, pp. 316-335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-021-00203-1

Andrea Winders, Managing Director of  Disruptieve, is a woman on a mission connecting people to places and to products to revive stifled and stuck places. Her drive and what she calls “magnetism” is infectious and certainly disrupts our paradigm of innovation. Tune in to see what you make of these digital data-driven solutions Andrea sees so clearly.

Resources

The industrial strategy should focus on stifled and stuck places - Localis

The Making of an Industrial Strategy - Localis

State of the nation 2021: Social mobility and the pandemic - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Visit-Whitehaven

What is a 'smart city'? | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)

Jane Dalton, creative thinker and a local innovator with a focus on return on investment and social value inspires us to look at things from a different perspective and celebrate diversity of views and opinions.  This episode connects design explicitly with innovation and shines light on true community engagement that often leads to seemingly simple, but powerful local and life changing innovations. Enjoy Jane’s refreshingly common sense and the fantastic examples of place-base innovation in our beautiful Lancashire.

Link to podcast recording session photography of the host Dr Radka Newton and guest Jane Dalton.

Groundswell (groundswellinnovation.co.uk)

Opinion Pieces — Groundswell (groundswellinnovation.co.uk)

Schwab, K. (2021). Stakeholder capitalism: A global economy that works for progress, people and planet. John Wiley & Sons.

In this episode we talk to Jacqui Jackson, a 4th Generation Partner of Thomas Jardine & Co, about her passion for place, appreciating place and giving back to place which is vital to any business success. Jacqui opens a debate on being flexible and constantly challenging the place not to fall behind. Jacqui believes in entrepreneurs as wealth creators who need to understand their ecosystem around them.

Resources:

Coworking Office Space In Carlisle | Cumbria | The Guild (theguild-carlisle.co.uk)

Business tools|Thought Piece|Business|Change|Leadership|Management (thomasjardineandco.co.uk)

Stuart McLennan https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuart-maclennan-7678328/ , Executive Chair and CEO of Circular 1 https://circular1.com talks to us about his passion for respect for the place and the importance of relationship building. Stuart’s team have been supporting our key industries in the time of COVID19 by developing an employee covid screening programme that they have now pivoted to proactive health programme managed from a newly established Health HUB in Barrow-in -Furness. Stuart’s common sense and pragmatic approach to achieving deep growth with regional success indicators rather than following a Unicorn individualistic success story is very much anchored in the place-based agenda. An inspiration to all current and aspiring entrepreneurs!

Link to podcast recording session photography of the host Dr Radka Newton and guest Stuart McLennan.

Reference:

Success for Circular1 Health at Britain's Energy Coast Business Cluster Awards - Cumbria 24

Research: How Entrepreneurship Can Revitalize Local Communities (hbr.org)

Dr Joanne Larty | Lancaster University, a lecturer and researcher at Lancaster University Management School, opens our minds to the importance of place in entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship education. Joanne offers her framework she developed in her recent article exploring a variety of dimension of place and our emotional connection to places. Joanne’s work has significantly influenced this project.

Link to podcast recording session photography of the host Dr Radka Newton and guest Dr Joanne Larty.

Larty, J. (2021). Towards a framework for integrating place-based approaches in entrepreneurship education. Industry and Higher Education, 35(4), 312-324.

Ferreira, J. G. (2021). Developing place-based program objectives for a national parks environmental program through transformative research. Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 20(1), 66-76.

Cresswell, T. (2014). Place: an introduction. John Wiley & Sons.

Greenwood, D. A. (2013). 9 A Critical Theory of Place-Conscious Education. In International handbook of research on environmental education (pp. 93-100). Routledge.

Andy Walker, Head of Business growth and Innovation, Lancashire County Council, talks to us about diversity of our place and the importance to recognise specific place dynamics and community needs. Andy’s role focuses on creating safe spaces for local entrepreneurs, identify funding and encourage sustainable growth and opportunities for local businesses.

Link to podcast recording session photography of the host Dr Radka Newton and guest Andy Walker.

Reference:

Levelling Up government agenda

Levelling Up the United Kingdom - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Dr David Perez Ojeda, a lecturer and researcher at Lancaster University Institute of Art and Design, explores ways in which social entrepreneurs use design in their business and how design is connected to the entrepreneurial context.

Link to podcast recording session photography of the host Dr Radka Newton and guest Dr David Perez Ojeda.

Reference:

Perez Ojeda, D 2021, 'Co-designing boundary objects in social entrepreneurship: The generation of negotiating artefacts in social entrepreneurship ecosystems', Paper presented at IASDR 2021, 5/12/21 - 9/12/21.

Pérez, D, Hands, D, McKeever, E & Whitham, R 2019, 'Design within Social Entrepreneurship: A Framework to reveal the use of Design in interdisciplinary spaces', The Design Journal, vol. 22, no. Suppl. 1, pp. 229-241. https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2019.1595861

Dr Ed McKeever, a lecturer and researcher at Lancaster University Management School, offers his perspective on exploring ways in which entrepreneurs engage with place and community.

Link to podcast recording session photography of the host Dr Radka Newton and guest Dr Ed McKeever.

Reference:

McKeever, E, Jack, S & Anderson, A 2015, 'Embedded entrepreneurship in the creative reconstruction of place', Journal of Business Venturing, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 50-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2014.07.002

Nordstrom, O, McKeever, E & Anderson, A 2020, 'Piety and profit: the moral embeddedness of an enterprising community', Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, vol. 32, no. 9-10, pp. 783-804. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2020.1781935