Rizoma, an R&D&i Proposal in Education for Sustainability between Universities and Companies

Abstract

The University has three essential missions: teaching, research and knowledge transfer. In the European academic context knowledge transfer is an opportunity to incorporate sustainability into the university as long as in-depth reflections are addressed. A first reflection shows that the transfer designation encompasses a wide range of activities, including lectures, training seminars, innovation and development processes, contracts for product design, counseling of organizations and public administration ... that have a common link between university and society. It is therefore necessary to determine what knowledge transfer means for each institution and what kind of activities refer to it. This study offers a transfer definition (transformation of knowledge generated by the university in innovation that is useful to society), assuming that it involves addressing the implications of the relationship between the university and society. Thus some reflections on this relationship are presented, including the demands on the university from society; what the university can offer to society beyond teaching and researching; the changes that the university should make in order to develop these transfer activities and which professional competences must be developed by the faculty. Finally, a case of transfer of knowledge in the field of education for sustainability is presented, from the Complex Research Group, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, to the spin-off Rizoma_Educación_Transferencia SL, highlighting its creation process and the results achieved so far.