Researchers from the Department of Business Organisation and Marketing at the University of Vigo (UVigo) are participating in the european project mosaic, which seeks to develop a comparative, historical, and spatial understanding of industrial transitions to facilitate a fair green transition. This project examines how decline and renewal impact regions, the labour market, and institutions.
Lucas López Manuel, a postdoctoral researcher in the department and at the Ecobas research centre, explains that "a fair green transition is one that allows progress towards a decarbonised and more sustainable economy without disproportionately shifting costs onto workers, companies, sectors, or territories."
Alongside Xosé H. Vázquez Vicente, a professor in the same department, López Manuel leads the mosaic project, which is coordinated by the University of Economics in Katowice, Poland. The project involves eight partners from Italy, Norway, France, Germany, Serbia, and Spain, represented by UVigo and the company Kneia SL.
With a budget of €3.33 million, of which €242,000 is allocated to UVigo, mosaic will run until August 2030. The project will employ various disciplines to interpret trends, simulate futures, and guide policies, structured into three phases: past, present, and future. This approach will enable the evaluation of behaviours and policy options, while collaboration with social actors will transform results into strategies to enhance competitiveness and resilience.
The UVigo team, which includes Miguel González and Alexandra França, focuses on the historical analysis of industrial transitions. López Manuel emphasises that their work aims to understand what factors triggered changes and which hindered them, as well as the differences in responses from companies and regions to environmental challenges since the Industrial Revolution.
The researcher also notes that a historical perspective allows for the identification of conditions, risks, and institutional responses that can help design better policies for the current green transition. Furthermore, the experience gained from european projects has established UVigo as a reliable partner in the field of research.
