Per Valter

• Andersson, Gunnar; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle; Johansen, Frode Ramstad; Leister, Eivind Andre; Valter, Per & Lynch, Matthew [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2026). Fostering Resilience and Innovation in Island Communities – Identifying Systemic Challenges and Opportunities. THE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES. ISSN 2720-8672. 6(1), p. 44–56. doi: 10.63410/jds2025/04. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper explores how stakeholders in island communities perceive and address systemic challenges to resilience and innovation in the context of the green transition and broader societal change. Drawing on insights from the Interreg FREIIA project – a multi-country, participatory initiative across six European islands—this study employs a design thinking framework and grounded theory methodology to explore how local stakeholders perceive and respond to development challenges, highlighting the voices and lived experiences of island residents and aiming to understand the realities on the ground and the multidimensional conditions shaping resilience and innovation in their communities. The findings highlight recurring development challenges, including youth outmigration, housing shortages, seasonal economic dependency, and limited institutional capacity. The paper argues that sustainable development in island contexts requires participatory governance, inclusive innovation ecosystems, and place-based strategies that reflect local realities. By situating island development within broader debates on peripheralization, productive capabilities, and participatory transformation, the study contributes to the literature on systemic development in island communities.

• Andersson, Gunnar; Johansen, Frode Ramstad; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle; Torgersen, Mirielle & Valter, Per (2024). Co-creer une communaute d'apprentissage sur la soutenabilite. International Transitions. 1(1), p. 92–109. doi: https:/journaleska.com/index.php/rit/article/view/8939. Full text in Research Archive
• Andersson, Gunnar; Johansen, Frode Ramstad; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle; Torgersen, Mirielle; Tellnes, Lars G. F. & Valter, Per (2024). Co-creating a Learning Community - Teaching Sustainability in Higher Education. International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning. 17(1), p. 61–73. doi: 10.3991/ijac.v17i1.42753. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study explores the emergence of a distinctive learning-community aspect of teaching sustainability. It uses action nets to describe major contributions shaping a learning community about sustainability. The results describe how the growing learning community of research, externally funded projects, teaching strategies, students, NGOs, and regional industry is framed within a sociotechnical network of actants and identifies events exposing the transitions in the making. Based on the findings, we discuss lessons learned from the co-creation, increasing the awareness of mechanisms involved in gaining (and regaining) support needed to create the new approach to teaching sustainability. The learning community mirrors, in many ways, the systemic nature of sustainability and sustainable development. It also introduces the uncertainty and ambiguity inherent in the transitions. It was easier than anticipated to mobilize resources, but the connections between the different contributions are also delicate, and we experience the learning community as something like fresh produce—something we must create and recreate continuously.

• Solesvik, Marina; Torgersen, Mirielle; Andersson, Gunnar & Valter, Per (2022). Green Business Models: definitions, types, and life cycle analysis. Forum Scientiae Oeconomia. ISSN 2300-5947. 10(4), p. 199–217. doi: 10.23762/FSO_VOL10_NO4_10. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Sustainability issues and green business thinking are steadily becoming more important in the strategies and daily life of small and large firms alike. In this study, we wish to contribute to an emerging field of research, namely green business models. More specifically, we have aimed to empirically test the efficiency of green business model implementation. Several aspects of green business modelling were considered. First, we have specified the definition of a green business model and shown the difference between green business models and several other types of sustainable business models. Second, using the multiple case study method, we explored green business model implementation by means of empirical data from five Norwegian SMEs. The firms that adopted green business models reduced their use of raw materials in favour of recycled materials, improved efficiency, increased the life cycle, reduced transportation length, and adopted other related measures. The results of the study demonstrated the importance of life cycle analysis (LCA) and life cycle thinking when companies select and implement green business models in their firms. The utilisation of LCA allows companies to avoid greenwashing and implement green business models more effectively. Thus, firms both achieve environmental goals and reduce economic costs.

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• Leister, Eivind Andre; Andersson, Gunnar; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle; Wu, Hong; Johansen, Frode Ramstad & Valter, Per (2025). How demography in an island community can be a force for development and innovation - the outcome from a training module for student entrepreneurship. doi: https:/www.neonnet.no/neon-2025. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Can an elderly population become a basis for innovation and rethinking? Grand societal challenges («SCG») require innovative approaches (Voegtlin et al., 2022). Demography and a growing elderly population is a major SCG concerning especially Western-Europe. To handle this, changes within both private and public sector are required. The importance of this topic has been underlined as “Good Health and well-being” and is defined as Sustainable Development Goal (“SDG”) Nr 3. of the UN. Islands characterized by their isolation can be useful as experimental spaces, where the gained knowledge can be transferred and used in larger societies on the mainland. Demography challenges in rural areas are a common trend (Anderson & Irava, 2017). The impact an ageing population has on the communities on islands has been examined in various studies. The geographical spread from Waiheke Island (Bates et al., 2019), via the Maldives (Moosa, 2020) and Portuguese islands (Sousa Gomes et al., 2024) to the Swedish islands Koster (Heyden, 1998) indicates that this is a global common feature. On the islands the demography covers a broad range of themes from concern how to attract younger generations to stay or move back as well as various views on development and environmental protection to health care. Thus, demography often described as a challenge, it can enable rethinking the organization of society, leading to market opportunities and opening for innovations within both governance and business. In a resilience context (Cecchini et al., 2019) demography contributes to stabilize the society in rapid changes. A further aspect related hereto is the connection between demography and cultural heritage (Tapia-Gómez & Lois González, 2025) . As demography was highlighted as an important topic in a study on Hvaler, where staff and on students from Østfold University College (“Hiof”) were involved, it triggered a further search to gain insight into how the society organize and handle elderly people and their needs. A case study at a local health care centre on Hvaler provided further information whereas demography can change the conduct of work and be seen as source for innovation opening interesting market possibilities attracting young entrepreneurs. This study examines the process to identify challenges in an island society (Douglas, 2006) and ways to solve it, especially related to a growing elderly population. Further innovative initiatives to handle this challenge will be discussed.

• Andersson, Gunnar; Johansen, Frode Ramstad; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle; Torgersen, Mirielle; Tellnes, Lars G. F. & Valter, Per (2022). Co-creating a learning community on sustainability. Full text in Research Archive

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