Industrial Ecology discoveries in Pescara

I have just spent a week as a guest lecturer at a business school, Italy, teaching about Populated life cycle approaches, i.e. life cycle methods that include actors, organization, and social issues.

Teaching was productive, meeting the 48 students was delightful, being called professoressa was enchanting, but it was the educational institution that piqued my interest. The business school, I was told, at the Università degli Studi "G. d'Annunzio" a Chieti - Pescara used to have a Master's program in Industrial Ecology 10 years ago.

Pescara, inAbruzzo, on the Adriatic sea.

 It was during a lunch with my host prof. Luigia Petti and the dean prof Anna Morgante that I started to piece together the intriguing IE story at the Economics and Commerce School in Pescara. They explained: Student enrollment had gone down, and they had become obliged by Italian law to close the Master's program on Industrial Ecology. I wasn't sure if they meant Industrial Ecology in the same sense as I. I've seen some lateral uses of these words, so I didn't follow up. I knew that my host was active in the field of social LCA and that she devoted a sizable chunk of her course on Theories and Methods of Quality to it. The dean herself told me she taught Production Management and did research in Industrial Symbiosis. Google Scholar confirmed it that evening with listing her articles in journals such as Journal of Cleaner Production and Ecological Economics. Later, I found a poster presenting the Master's program on a door in the corridor of the economics department. There, in the eco-management profile of business administration, was indeed a course on Industrial Ecology, taught by prof Raggi. And another one on Energy Technologies.

The place for my lectures.

On the fourth day, I thought I would start by saying a few encouraging words to the business about having an alien engineering teacher. I showed them a recent article on the World Economic Forum's site asking 'How can business schools remain relevant?' after the many financial and economic crises of late. The proposed answer was for business schools to offer science and technology education, but also to improve the links between business and the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) sectors. The arguments were that science and technology were developing so rapidly, transforming both economies and the ways we learn and that engineers need help with management in technical industries. I said that the socio-materiality of life cycles and their management was an exemplification of business and STEM integration, and me coming from a technical university visiting a business school provided a link that could be developed.

Or so I thought until Andrea put me right. Business schools in Italy had always maintained a more industrial and commercial interest, and not specialized into theoretical management and finances like many other European business schools. Courses such as his on Energy Technologies were, in fact, something of a matter of course. We continued over to the matter of Industrial Ecology. According to him, the program had had to close after students having difficulties finding jobs that suited their IE and business degree. But that had not been the end of it. The program had disappeared, but many courses had remained. They were now thinking of offering an Industrial Ecology profile within the Master's program, thereby avoiding the problem of the title on the degree, while ensuring the subject is being taught.

It certainly makes sense to teach IE in a business school to me. The job of managing and re-directing the energy and materials flow of society requires more than engineering skills. Business development, cost control, industrial relations… etc. are all staple subjects that can be put to use for more industrial ecology in society. When carefully probing students about their view on the practical use of the populated life cycle methodologies, the reply I got was, 'Oh, I see many uses! Strategic management, risk analysis for bank and insurance industries, industrial policy, …! '. What impressed me was the tone of certainty and the lack of ambiguity in their answers. And, who knows, engineering industrial ecologists may have to pay attention to the business industrial ecologists in the future?!

Are there any other business schools teach an Industrial Ecology program? If you know of any, please drop me a line!

Pescara beach

Me enjoying the sand