The Centre for Industrial Sustainability held its Fifth Annual Conference with the theme 'Capturing Sustainable Value', at Churchill College, Cambridge on 7-8 July. The two-day conference was attended by over 180 people from 83 organisations and 10 different countries. [more]

Auditorium presentations at the Centre's 5th Annual Conference including Gunter Pauli, Mike Barry and Andy Wood are available from the Centre website and YouTube channel. MTDCNC filmed an interesting documentary at the Centre's Annual Conference in July.  Watch the documentary here.

Centre for Industrial Sustainability researchers, Dr Doroteya Vladimirova, Dr Miying Yang and Martin Geissdoerfer, and Dr Mohamed Zaki from the Cambridge Service Alliance, in collaboration with colleagues at Cranfield University, have begun a feasibility study, Digital Re-Distributed Manufacturing (RDM) Studio.  The study seeks to address the key research question, “How can data-driven decisions predict a future RDM business model?”. [more]

Join us on Monday 24 October for a free workshop and expert discussion at the Institute for Manufacturing, Cambridge on the High-Value Business Model Innovation Process.  You will be introduced to a comprehensive framework for business model innovation based on 7 years of Cambridge research and our experience of real life industry challenges. Participants will have the opportunity to benefit from and help shape the future of this ongoing research at the IfM, University of Cambridge.[more]

Funded by the EPSRC Global Challenges Research Fund, this project seeks to transform Sri Lanka's apparel manufacturing waste streams into high value products through introducing innovative remanufacturing processes and designing new business models. [more]

Steve Evans and doctoral researcher Paulo Savaget worked with non-profit FA.VELA in Brazil to deliver workshops for low-income entrepreneurs to design their businesses and to find new opportunities for sustainable value. [more]

This paper by Dr Miying Yang, Prof Steve Evans, Dr Doroteya Vladimirova, and Dr Padmakshi Rana proposes value uncaptured as a new perspective for sustainable business model innovation, and elaborates four forms of value uncaptured: value surplus, value absence, value missed and value destroyed. A framework is proposed using value uncaptured for sustainable business model innovation. The paper is published in The Journal of Cleaner Production, July 2016.  Read the full text here.

Researchers are invited to contribute to a special session, Resource and Energy Efficiency for Sustainability Advances in Process Industries, organised by Prof Steve Evans and Dr Maria Holgado for the 4th International Conference on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing (SDM2017). The conference will take place in Bologna, Italy on 26, 27 and 28 April 2017. [more]

Delegates enjoyed a dynamic afternoon on 6 July at the High-Value Business Models Symposium. The Symposium, hosted by the Centre for Industrial Sustainability at the IfM, featured the High-Value Business Tools developed at the University of Cambridge. With innovative social start-ups as case studies, the symposium brought together change makers from industry and academia to first explore new business opportunities in the start-ups and then apply new lenses to tackle challenges faced by each start-up. [more]

After participating in the High-Value Business Models Symposium at the IfM on 6 July, Keren Pybus of Ethical Apparel Africa, ran a session using the Cambridge Value Mapping Tool in August with her team in Ghana - a group representing 8 different nationalities and speaking 15 different languages.  This was a true cross cultural test of a Centre tool!  [more]

A new book, Value Networks in Manufacturing Sustainability and Performance Excellence, has been published by Springer [Editors: Liyanage, Jayantha P, Uusitalo, Teuvo ].  The book furthers the understanding of sustainable manufacturing from the perspective of value creation in manufacturing networks, by capitalizing on the outcomes of the European ‘Sustainable Value Creation in Manufacturing Networks’ (SustainValue) project. [more]

Dr Doroteya Vladimirova, Prof Steve Evans and Ian Bamford from the Centre for Industrial Sustainability led a second Sustainability Leadership Laboratory (Lab) in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). The Lab entitled 'Transforming Business to Deliver Sustainable Value' was held on 26-27 May 2016 at Madingley Hall, Cambridge.  The intensive two-day course provided delegates with the tools to identify opportunities for value creation in their business, and the ability to design and develop a comprehensive action plan to implement sustainable change. [more]

The “Energy and resource management systems for improved efficiency in the process industries” (MAESTRI) project is celebrating its first year in September 2016. The MAESTRI partners, including Prof Steve Evans and Dr Maria Holgado representing the Centre for Industrial Sustainability at the IfM, attended a 3-day meeting in mid-September to reflect on the first year of the project. [more]  

A one-day workshop on Bangladesh's open innovation in the agri-tech catalyst for SMEs (SME Foundation) was hosted at the IfM, Cambridge on 23 September. The workshop provided participants with an in-depth exploration into the complex structure of the SME Foundation and its relationships with various stakeholders. Structured routes to engaging in more effective policy-making were identified to promote open-innovation by the SME Foundation in the Bangladeshi agri-tech industry.  [more]

Congratulations to Cambridge doctoral researchers Sudhir Rama Murthy and Dan Summerbell who have both won conference Best Paper Awards. Sudhir won a joint Best Paper Award for his paper 'Four Arrangements of Circular Economy at the Level of Supply Chains' at the 3rd International Conference on Green Supply Chain in July [more]. Dan Summerbell won the best paper award at the 3rd Global Cement EnviroCem Conference on Environmental Technology for Cement & Lime in May for his paper, ‘Can we reduce CO2 from the cement industry by 20% - for free?’. [more]

Prof Steve Evans spoke about Industrial Evolution and the future outlook of high value manufacturing at the Westminster Business Forum Keynote Seminar, ‘High value manufacturing in the UK - next steps for investment, innovation and competitiveness’ on 15th July 2016 in London. This seminar brought together policymakers with representatives from a wide range of relevant industries as well as investors, suppliers and contractors, enterprise partnerships, trade associations, consultants, academics, unions and others.  Participants examined policy and sector priorities for growing high value manufacturing in the UK, focusing on key opportunities and challenges for supporting investment, innovation and competitiveness.

Congratulations to Centre research associate Dr Maria Holgado whose PhD thesis has been granted the PhD Thesis Award by the European Federation of National Maintenance Societies (EFNMS).[more]