Disruptive Low Carbon Innovation

Faculty of Technology – Course work Specification 2019/20

Module name:

Engineering Business Environment

Module code:

ENGT5219

Title of the Assignment:

Assignment B – Disruptive Low Carbon Innovation

This coursework item is: (delete as appropriate)

Summative

Formative

This summative coursework will be marked anonymously

Yes

No

According to the learning outcomes for this module, this assignment will demonstrate that students can:

1. Exhibit a comprehensive understanding and sound judgement in developing proposals and solutions to reduce the impact of organisations as they seek to respond to these risks

2. Apply a range of advanced technical, academic and professional skills to evaluate and critically reflect on current trends in engineering for sustainability such as life-cycle analysis, green accounting, carbon trading, and risk assessment.

This coursework is: (delete as appropriate)

Individual

Group

If other or mixed ... explain here:

This coursework constitutes 70% of the overall module mark.

Date Set:

9th December 2019

Date & Time Due:

19th January 2020 at 12:00 (midnight)

Your marked coursework and feedback will be available to you on:

If for any reason this is not forthcoming by the due date your module leader will let you know why and when it can be expected. The Head of Studies should be informed of any issues relating to the return of marked coursework and feedback.

17th February 2020

When completed you are required to submit your coursework to:

1. Blackboard via Turnitin.

Late submission of coursework policy: Late submissions will be processed in accordance with current University regulations which state:

“the time period during which a student may submit a piece of work late without authorisation and have the work capped at 40% [50% at PG level] if passed is 14 calendar days. Work submitted unauthorised more than 14 calendar days after the original submission date will receive a mark of 0%. These regulations apply to a student’s first attempt at coursework. Work submitted late without authorisation which constitutes reassessment of a previously failed piece of coursework will always receive a mark of 0%.”

Academic Offences and Bad Academic Practices:

These include plagiarism, cheating, collusion, copying work and reuse of your own work, poor referencing or the passing off of somebody else's ideas as your own. If you are in any doubt about what constitutes an academic offence or bad academic practice you must check with your tutor. Further information and details of how DSU can support you, if needed, is available at:

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/dmu-students/the-student-gateway/academic-support-office/academic-offences.aspx and

http://www.dmu.ac.uk/dmu-students/the-student-gateway/academic-support-office/bad-academic-practice.aspx

Tasks to be undertaken:

The UK government’s Industrial Strategy describe a partnership between government and

the private sector to build the foundations of a strong economy, which are the skills of its

workers, the quality of its infrastructure and a fair and predictable business environment. The

strategy aims to foster innovation and identifies four ‘Grand Challenges’, one of which is

clean growth.

1. Choose a business or business type and identify the threats to that business from:

• Climate change, and

• The policy and regulatory framework designed to mitigate climate change

2. Familiarise yourself with innovation theory and briefly summarise the following:

disruptive innovation, incremental innovation and game changing innovation

3. Considering the products and services of the business you have identified above,

write a management report that recommends one or more disruptive innovations

that will address threats to the business from climate change. In your report, consider

the following questions:

• Who will be the early adopters of your innovative products and/or services?

• How will your innovation lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions?

You will find it valuable to read the paper by Wilson et al (2018) entitled ‘The potential

contribution of disruptive low-carbon innovations (DLCI) to 1.5° C climate mitigation’. This

assignment will also require careful reading of the lessons used in this module as well as

library research.

Deliverables to be submitted for assessment:

Your assignment report should be in the form of a management report of between 2,000 and

2,500 words, not including any references and appendices. Use appendices to include

additional charts, illustrations and data as necessary, but the appendices should be no

longer than 4 pages. This should be written as a practical report for decision makers rather

than a theoretical treatise on climate change and innovation.

You should explain any pictures and diagrams you use, reference your sources correctly and

choose suitable sources. You should use a font of size no less than 10 points.

How the work will be marked:

Your mark will be based on the extent to which the learning outcomes have been met, and

the extent to which the above instructions, notes and guidance are complied with (for

example regarding word limit, style, structure and citation). The criteria below relate to the

current pass mark of 50%.

• Introduction to the report – 10 marks

• Descriptions of threats to business from climate change and policy – 20 marks

• Summaries of three types of innovation – 20 marks

• Description of disruptive innovations to address threats to business – 40 marks

• Clarity of writing style, referencing and structure of report – 10 marks

Work that is deficient in most of the respects outlined above, showing no evidence of critical

analysis will be awarded an outright fail of 44% or less. A marginal fail of 45% to 49% may

be awarded to work that demonstrates some understanding of the problem but where the

understanding, accuracy, organisation and critical analysis fail to justify a marginal pass.

Module leader/tutor name: Dr Andrew Mitchell

Contact details: andrew.mitchell@dmu.ac.uk