On February 16-21 Raminta Pučėtaitė, an Associate Professor from the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Studies, and Mantas Dilys, a PhD student from the Department of Finance and Accounting, visited Wageningen University located in the Mid-East region of the Netherlands.
The faculty’s scholars went to Wageningen under the general grant project called “The effect of organizations’ ethics on the transformation of organizational innovations to sustainable innovations” at the invitation of dr. Vincent Blok, the head scholar of the University’s Management Studies Group, who specializes in responsible innovations, business ethics and management philosophy.
Meetings with the scholars of Wageningen University
VU Kaunas Faculty of Humanities scholars’ choice to go to Wageningen University for a scientific visit was not accidental. Not only is the university one of the “greenest” in the Netherlands, creating innovations for the agricultural sector, but also the only one which focuses on the employment of healthy lifestyle principle in various fields of production and business. The motto of the University, which has been acknowledged as the best in the Netherlands for 10 years in a row is “Healthy Food and Living Environment”. The University collaborates closely with governmental institutions and business representatives in both scientific research and project-based activities and successfully implement innovative projects with them.
Associate Professor Raminta Pučėtaitė and Mantas Dilys met and had a discussion with Associate Professor Vincent Blok, who actively participates in various scientific projects, the aim of which is to innovatively arrange the activities of business, agricultural and production organizations. During these meetings, the researchers shared their experience and scientific discoveries as well as the possibilities for further collaboration in the field of responsible innovations.
Moreover, during the scientific discussions with the University’s PhD students of Management, they presented their research results in the fields of sustainable entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and social responsibility of the enterprises. During the visit, VU KHF researchers analysed the problems of the development and implementation of the sustainable innovations as well as their differences within the context of interculturality. The researchers also discussed the reasons which determine not only the economical usefulness of the innovations, but also the successful solutions of growing social and environmental problems by means of these innovations.
M. Dilys admired the modernity of Wageningen University as well as the perfect conditions for research projects. The young researcher reflected on this visit: “Wageningen University is distinguished for its exceptionally sustainable employment of social, environmental and institutional resources. The philosophy of the university can be perceived in its subdivisions as well as in the attitude of its employees and students. Their culture makes one contemplate how such model could be adjusted in other countries, where disturbances still take place and there are many social and environmental problems, how to deepen the consciousness of the people and enable them to act differently.”