At the Presidency conference on an eco-efficient economy in Linköping on 2–3 November, the winners of the Ashridge Sustainable Innovation Awards was announced. This is a competition where students compete with their best ideas for how organisations can benefit from eco-efficient solutions.

Photo: Lotta Serning/Näringsdepartementet

First prize winner Jonathan Alexander and State Secretary Jöran Hägglund

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Photo: Lotta Serning/Näringsdepartementet

The prize winners of the Aschridge prize; Srikanth Madani, Luc Petit and Jonathan Alexander together with State Secretary Jöran Hägglund and Matthew Gitsham, Director of the Ashridge Centre for Business and Sustainability

At the evening Conference dinner, the three top winners of the competition was announced. The first prize went to Jonathan Alexander at the University of Bath, with the following motivation:

There are a number of tough questions which must be addressed if modern society is to succeed in creating a truly sustainable future for generations to come. And Jonathan dares to pose some of those questions in his essay which the jury selected as the overall winner of the competition. The essay looks at how we can change the goals and values of the current system rather than simply innovating within the existing structure. It questions directly what we mean by creating value, and whether or not the creation of financial value should even be considered a primary objective. 

According to the Stern Review we have less then ten years to turn the trend of rising carbon dioxide emissions. To succeed, we need to transform our global infrastructure quicker than has ever been done before, and this will require innovative solutions in many different areas simultaneously.

The award was presented in cooperation with HP and the WWF, and the winner received the prize sum of EUR 7 000, six-month mentorship from HP and career coaching by representatives of Spencer Stuart.