Creating a Sustainable Future Through the Integration of Management, Design, and Technology

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the collection of global sustainability goals set by the United Nations General Assembly and they are widely drawn on and paid particular attention to by three main stakeholders (the triple helix): governments, industries, and higher education institutions (HEIs). Governments play a key role in achieving development goals and targets through, for instance, setting and implementing water quality policy frameworks and standards, regulating the discharge of pollutants into the environment, as well as managing wastewater, recycling, and reuse of water (UNDESA, 2015). The ninth goal of the SDGs (or Goal 9) points out that industry, as it develops, drives an increase of value addition and enhances the application of science, technology, and innovation; consequently, industries are challenged to invest in skills and education and thus to provide the resources necessary to meet broader, inclusive, and sustainable development objectives (UN, 2018). Many universities attempt to articulate the processes relationships embedded in the educational model, leading to the alignment of the HEI strategy with the SDGs (Fleac? et al., 2018). In summary, the main idea of integrating the triple helix is to enhance the production of research at universities that is based on the most critical demands or market needs, accelerated and supported by relevant industries, and ultimately implemented by governments as a favorable policy.

In order to achieve sustainable development (environmental, social, and economic equity), three basic elements—management, design, and technology—are very important and play significant roles. Environmentally sound design (i.e., green building for sustainable building construction) is a must and is becoming a principle criterion for new building construction projects. Innovative and higher-level design is making critical improvements to components that are expected to function properly in order to contribute to high performance products (Berawi, 2014). On the other hand, the quality of products as output of design is increasingly dependent on highly innovative design and technology. Technology innovation plays a critical role in expediting a transition to a sustainable mode of development and it is becoming an important instrument used to increase the flow of new ideas and next-generation products (Berawi, 2015). The very success of the process of creating valuable products is greatly determined by how seriously management is taken or implemented. For example, good construction project performance can contribute to increasing the resource efficiency and reducing the impact on the environment during the construction lifecycle (Berawi et al., 2013).

In this special edition of IJTech, we are pleased to present twenty selected papers from the fifth International Conference on Soft Science 2018 (ISSC, 2018) that focus on areas related to the field of “soft science” in management. The conference was organized by the Research and Innovation Management Centre (RIMC) of the Universiti Utara Malaysia and created for students, researchers, and professionals, such as media, to discuss and share research and ideas in order to strengthen field management in relation to “soft science”, thus contributing to the creation of a sustainable future for the community.