Master's track Sustainability Transitions

Technology and innovation play a key role in transitioning to more just and sustainable futures. By following Innovation Management’s Sustainability Transitions track, you have a unique opportunity to study how change can be shaped at the intersection between high tech, innovation and sustainability.

What you will learn as part of the Sustainability Transitions track

This track will provide you with analytical tools and insights that will help you in your future work in combining technology, innovation and sustainability.

You will learn how to engage with the challenging process of transitioning towards sustainability. Many actors are involved – from firms to NGOs and from policymakers to civil society – and must navigate complex trade-offs and controversies that arise along the way. Transitions towards sustainability ask us to think about systemic change and to deal with the interconnectedness of our global challenges. They require approaches that combine insights from both Innovation Management and Transition Studies.

This track will give you deep insights into state-of the art thinking about sustainability transitions and innovation, specifically around the interactions between technology and society. You will learn about global difficulties and synergies that emerge when transitioning towards more sustainable societies. You will be introduced to theories and tools that will help you understand and assess the sustainability of products and processes and the associated challenges, including differing perspectives on the role of (digital) technologies, market mechanisms, business models and government intervention. You will learn how to analyze and lead changes that combine a sustainability focus with innovation and cutting-edge technology.

When to choose the Sustainability Transitions track

This track is designed to appeal to those who are keen to lead, create and manage change towards  more just and sustainable futures. This may be students with a technical or engineering background or a business, economics or social sciences background who are looking to further develop their knowledge and skills in the innovation, management and sustainability domains. By the end of the track, they will be:

• critical thinkers who have the analytical knowledge and tools to identify, analyze and evaluate the complexities and potentials at the intersection of sustainability, innovation and technology.
• team players who value and can constructively deal with different perspectives and approaches to creating change.
• communicators of evidence-based decisions and solutions, informed by a systemic understanding of problems, actions and consequences.
• able to translate and apply their analytical insights to real-life sustainability challenges and to design and develop solutions that bring together innovation, technology and societal perspectives.

A number of students have followed this track’s profile as part of an Innovation Management (IM) and Innovation Sciences (IS) double degree, highlighting the need to approach innovation from both a management and sustainability transition perspective. The track itself draws on the excellently evaluated IS program and integrates it with the IM program to strengthen its sustainability engagement.

The Certificate in Technology for Sustainable Development is also an option for students wishing to add an additional dimension to their degree, helping them to stand out as technical specialists who are well aware of the methods for integrating sustainability aspects in both research and design processes.

How you will learn

TU/e is located in Brainport – Europe’s most innovative technology region – and therefore presents opportunities for students to get firsthand insights from regional technology commercialization experts via challenges, site visits and guest lectures. To ensure that students feel supported throughout their master’s program and make well-informed decisions, the Innovation Management master program’s also makes use of a mentor system. An experienced lecturer and researcher will guide you in making choices on elective courses, studying abroad and the graduation project. This region, program and mentoring system all enable students to tailor their education to their skills and interests with a view to their long-term future.