eco3 – Sustainability Management and Green Controlling in the Social Economy

Eco3 is an international research project dealing with sustainability management and green controlling in the social economy. An international partnership consisting of four universities and two companies from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Romania is working in this Erasmus+ funded project on the development of a teaching module for the qualification of future managers in the social economy on the topic of sustainability.

The funding by Erasmus+ allows to form a multi-professional cooperation between researchers and practitioners within the framework of a strategic partnership which enables us to develop practical content on the basis of the latest research. All the results will be available open access.

We want to establish sustainabilty in social economy studies to empower a new generation of leaders.

eco3 – a Curriculum for the Future!

Climate change is forcing us to rethink both our personal behavior and our economic system, which is causing a dramatic environmental and social damage. Even if the social economy is not responsible for the largest CO2 footprint, the highest amount of waste or the exploitation of people in its supply chains, this social services sector also needs to address its impact on the planet and people.
It’s not just about CO2 reduction, it’s about a change in management. 
Social enterprises need employees and managers with specific skills in sustainability. They need to implement sustainability goals, define appropriate actions, and design a green management control system, all while taking into account the parameters, limits, and specific approaches of the social economy.
The future-oriented curriculum for social economy / social management degree programs provides students with these necessary competencies and skills to become aware of the impact of their behavior in terms of handling resources, products and capital goods, as well as the impact of their management behavior on the environmental and social goals of their organization.

Project Outputs

We develop different materials and tools for university education.

Whitepaper

The white paper “Sustainability and the Social Economy” forms the basis of our work within the project. It is a collection of central topics and provides definitions of the most important terms and concepts. It is intended to create a common vision of sustainability management and green controlling in the social economy based on different national or professional perspectives. It is also intended to provide orientation for those who want to learn about the topics for the first time.

Teaching Framework

The teaching framework provides various information and didactical considerations about the educational package consisting of two courses and a simulation game workshop. It represents a link between the practical-theoretical contents and the intended competence goals along the learning outcomes. It is supporting lectures in planning the courses by using suitable and innovative teaching elements and showing a scheduling for every lesson. It provides information to design lessons in class as well as online and give hints to plan a flipped classroom.

Teaching and learning materials

We will develop a wide variety of learning and teaching materials for the two courses “Sustainability Management” and “Green Controlling”, but also for the simulation workshop. Lecturers can use these materials both for their own preparation and for use in class. The materials are intended to encourage students to engage with the topics of sustainability, sustainable management and green controlling. The materials can also be an important resource for their later everyday professional life.

Business Cases in Social Economy

The business cases will in turn be used for a practical learning experience according to the different business models in the social economy. Based on this, students can gain a detailed insight into the practice of sustainability management in social enterprises and have the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge in a practical setting. They also gain insight into strategic decision-making as well as the day-to-day issues that sustainable management deals with.

Simulation Games ”Sustainability“ and ”Green Monopoly“

We develop two business games to deepen and practically apply the students’ knowledge. The first game, “Sustainability”, is about a social organisation that decides at a general meeting whether it wants to become more sustainable in the future. In the second game, “Green Controlling”, different social organisations meet and discuss the further development of their green controlling. The business games are based on the developed business cases. The students learn to initiate, accompany and evaluate a process of sustainability management or green controlling in the different business models of the social economy. Students can slip into different roles (e.g. managing director, controller, PR manager, social worker, …) within these social enterprises. They will be trained in soft skills such as team building, persuasion, planning skills and communication. We will provide a comprehensive game manual for the players and the teachers.

Green Controlling Tool

We will develop an online tool to complement the learning experience for the students in the Green Controlling course and in the business game workshop with several functionalities. The Green Controlling tool will consist of a materiality analysis to give students an overview of the indicators available and their relevance to the business cases. There will be a list of measures that can be tried out to see which indicators can have a positive or more negative effect.

Pocket Lectures

The Pocket Lectures are short video clips or podcast episodes that teach a specific topic of sustainability, sustainability management, or green controlling. They also showcase some best practices from partner countries. Lecturers can use them as part of an online course. Students, in turn, can use them to review some topics from a lecture or to prepare for the case of a flipped classroom concept.

“Sustainability management has become increasingly important since the introduction of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Green Deal. It is high time that this important topic finds its way into the studies of future decision-makers in the Social Economy.”

Peter Stepanek – Project Leader, FH Campus Wien

Timeline

According to the timeline, you can see our project schedule.

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2020

October

Project Start & Start of the work on the whitepaper “Sustainability & Social Economy”

November

First transnational project meeting
2021

January

Start of the development of the teaching framework

April

First meeting to the work package learning and teaching materials.

May

Second transnational project meeting

September

Publication of the whitepaper “Sustainabilty & Social Economy”

November

Third transnational project meeting

December

Start of the design of the Green Controlling Tool
2022

January

Start of the workpackages Business Cases in Social Economy and Simulation Game

April

Fourth transnational project meeting

August

Start of the intellectual output „Pocket lectures“

December

Fifth transnational project meeting
2023

February

Learning/Teaching/Training activity in Vienna

June

Sixth transnational project meeting

August

End of the procject

Meet the project partners

The project consortium consists of FH Campus Wien (AT), University Of Ostrava (CZ), Babes Bolyai University (RO), Catholic University Of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (GER), akaryon GmbH (AT) and xit GmbH (GER). The partners combine know-how from sustainability, education, science, business management and consulting as well as software development, which promise a high-quality project outcome. The project team is composed of practitioners, researchers and teachers from different disciplines to meet different perspectives and the complexity of sustainability as well as regarding suitable and innovative didactical approaches to be developed.

Please find further information about the partners and contact information below (click the logo).