Entrepreneurial solutions as well as ICT play a critical role in achieving sustainability. We thus develop an inter- and transdisciplinary project that focusses on Yields of Evocative Entrepreneurial approaches on Environment and Society (YEEES). We especially elaborate on the resilience of cities and peri-urban areas, while focusing challenges in the fields of urban agriculture and mobility. Our project connects the universities of Lüneburg and Oldenburg with the universities in South Africa (NMMU), Namibia (UNAM) and Mosambique (UPM) via implementing two interconnected centers seen as international networks where the above mentioned topics will be addressed in Research and Teaching: The YEEES Research Center and the YEEES Training Center.
The YEEES Research Center aims at being a long-term, visible and renowned network of German and African researchers from a variety of disciplines. Four research groups, focusing on 'Innovation', 'Imovation', 'ICT' and 'Education' are connected via a common goal: Delivering excellent and relevant research results that contribute to the global challenge of ensuring sustainability by focusing on innovative and imovative sustainable entrepreneurial approaches using ICT.
The YEEES Training Center consists of four units: The Lecturing Hub, the Postgraduate Trainings, the Continuing Training, and the Scholarships. As an international, trans- and interdisciplinary network of relevant lecturers, researchers, practitioners and students, the center aims at becoming an internationally renowned center that connects Germany and Africa by developing and implementing innovative teaching based on state of the art research in the fields of Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and ICT.
The YEEES project will foster the development of innovative entrepreneurial approaches, as e.g. the founding of sustainability start-ups and organisations in the respective fields. Our work further more supports the development of skills and mindsets that lead to entrepreneurial behavior in a way that future change agents identify and exploit opportunities for creative and innovative or 'imovative' solutions. We also contribute to a broad and strong German-African cooperation in various ways. That allows mind changing experiences, which on short and long term perspective enable people to contribute to sustainable change.