Press release: PhD paves the way for new partnerships in local governments

PhD paves the way for new partnerships in local governments

Copenhagen Municipality, Aarhus Municipality and Vestforbrænding launch cooperation with CBS on a PhD project, which focuses on market development, partnerships and green innovation.

Could partnerships with the private sector raise the quality of local government waste management? This is one of the main questions that Copenhagen Municipality, Aarhus Municipality and Vestforbrænding are looking forward to getting an answer to through cooperation with the Department of Business and Politics at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) on a new PhD project.

The waste sector is developing rapidly. Collection and treatment of waste is no longer an exclusively municipal task, but is increasingly contracted out to private providers. At the same time, political demands for new solutions which focus on climate change and the environment increase. The Ph.D. project will investigate how new forms of public-private cooperation can support the conversion of increased demands to more effective waste management and sustainable initiatives.

The project will be carried out by PhD Fellow Sofie Dam, who has a master in Public Administration and has formulated a project with the title “Public-Private Partnerships in a Changing Sector – Cooperation, Innovation and Sustainability in the Waste Sector”.

”With this project I would like to contribute to improve cooperation between public and private actors – and thereby create better public service for citizens”, states Sofie Dam.

The project is fully financed by the three organizations involved.

For the municipalities and Vestforbrænding the commitment is part of their current effort to investigate possibilities for partnerships in a changing sector. As the two biggest municipalities in Denmark and a leading environmental company in waste management the parties wish to contribute to the development of new knowledge and solutions for the collection and treatment of waste.

Technical and Environmental Mayor of Copenhagen Municipality Ayfer Baykal explains the background of the project:

”Initiatives for climate change and the environment are already a part of the collection of waste in Copenhagen, but we have to keep up the pressure for new green solutions. It is not enough to place demands. We, ourselves, have to be a part of the innovative solutions in waste management through more partnerships and research in the waste management of the future”, says Ayfer Baykal.

According to Alderman of Aarhus Municipality Laura Hay Aarhus Municipality already has good experiences with the development of solutions in cooperation with the private sector:

”In Aarhus we have good experiences with public-private dialogues and cooperation. Recently, we have succeeded in developing a waste management solution in the centre of Aarhus with underground containers as a future-proofed and innovative waste management solution. We view this joint project with CBS as an opportunity to share knowledge and include new research in public-private partnerships in our waste management practices”, says Laura Hay.

Mayor of Ballerup Municipality and Chairman of Vestforbrænding Ove E. Dalsgaard states that the investigation of new models for cooperation and contracting is an integrated part of Vestforbrændings work on a more resource efficient waste management:

”The Earth is lacking resources, and we have to continually increase our knowledge of the best methods to use and contain resources in waste. Besides the material resources, Vestforbrænding focus on how we can improve our work routines and cooperation with the business society, and we are not afraid of investigating new forms of contracting or new technical and juridical ways to call for tenders”, says Ove E. Dalsgaard.

The new project adds up to a line of research projects concerning public-private partnerships embedded in CBS. The project supervisor is Professor Carsten Greve from CBS, who is currently one of the leading scientists in this area. According to Carsten Greve, an industrial PhD is a possibility for both the public and private sector to get new perspectives on specific challenges: ”Since the projects have a timeframe of three years there is a potential to dig deeper than what is usually possible in a busy everyday life of local governments and businesses”, says Carsten Greve.

”We are very content that the local governments of Copenhagen and Aarhus in cooperation with Vestforbrænding has decided to challenge and strengthen public service by including the newest research in public-private partnerships in their investigation of new solutions in waste management. At the same time, the PhD project fits very well into two new profile areas of research at CBS; public-private partnerships and sustainability”, says Carsten Greve.

The PhD project will be a part of the new CBS Public-Private Partnership platform, which was launched in September 2011 by the board and direction of CBS. The research platform is chaired by Carsten Greve in cooperation with Professor Paul du Gay and is worth keeping an eye on. During the next five years the platform will be a framework for a flow of activities, where knowledge will be developed across sectors, boundaries and scientific fields.

For more information on the PhD project please contact:

CBS:

PhD Fellow Sofie Dam, tel.: +45 27 20 61 64, e-mail: sd.dbp@cbs.dk

Professor Carsten Greve, tel.: +45 38 15 35 98, e-mail: cg.dbp@cbs.dk

Aarhus Municipality:

Head of Department Dorthe Hamann, tel.: +45 89 40 19 20, e-mail: doha@aarhus.dk

Copenhagen Municipality:

Project Coordinator Kim Røgen, tel.: +45 33 66 55 19, e-mail: kimrog@tmf.kk.dk

Project Manager Björn Appelquist, tel.: +45 33 66 58 00, e-mail: bjoapp@tmf.kk.dk

Vestforbrænding:

Senior Consultant Brit Schøt-Nielsen, phone: +45 44 85 76 07, e-mail: bsn@vestfor.dk

Website: www.cbs.dk/staff/Sofie Dam