UCL 'Innovation for sustainability' podcast passes 3500 downloads

In 2022, the co-leads of the 'Business, Innovation and Sustainability' MSc module, Dr Will McDowall and David Bent, wanted to give students the grit under the fingernails of real innovators. Subsequently the interview series has been released on most podcast platforms and become much more widely listened to.

Feedspot has it as one of their top 60 best sustainability podcasts. Currently there are 14 episodes released, with over 3,500 downloads. Interviewees are drawn from a wide range of situations. There are for profit companies, whether small start-ups or large corporates. There are for-benefit entrepreneurs and incubators. There are also policymakers, angel investors, venture capitalists and more. Most are drawn from Europe, there are also some Majority World voices.

Each episode is about 30 minutes and has the same questions. It starts with the person, their organisation and how sustainability is framed. Then they tell stories of innovations, before explaining any methods or tools they use. Finally, they talk to what they need from governments, and their future priorities. In their module feedback, students say that they have found the interviews brilliant for helping them understand what is happening the world and to apply the theory taught in the main lectures.

The reach beyond the students shows that wider audience gets some real value from the interviews. The plan is to keep releasing new interviews and using all of them to complement teaching on business, innovation and sustainability across the Institute.

If you are an innovator for sustainability, and would like to be interviewed for the podcast, please contact David Bent on d.bent@ucl.ac.uk.

Links

• Listen to the podcast.
• Listen to Feedspot's 'Top 60 sustainability podcasts'.

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