A unique partnership for sustainability
Social and environmental responsibility is now part of the syllabus
More and more companies put social and environmental responsibility on the agenda when developing business strategies. Their focus is on creating sustainability in their work processes, making it a natural part of doing business. Therefore, it is of vital importance that companies develop efficient methods and solutions to how it is implemented in the best possible way.
A new elective at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) brings sustainability into focus in a unique partnership where students and companies are acquiring theoretical knowledge, concrete solutions, and tools to work with sustainable innovation in practice. Danish companies Codan, Arla, Dong Energy, FDB, BRF Kredit, and Hjem-IS receive specific solutions to business challenges. The elective is the first of its kind in Denmark.
Innovation creates new markets
- Earlier, companies have linked together sustainability and social responsibility with spending money. It was a luxury to indulge in if the finances were in good shape. Today, the perception is different, and companies have experienced that they can create new markets and stronger brands by being innovative, says Professor Christoph Hienerth from CBS, who has participated in developing the elective.
The government has declared that Denmark must be part of the European elite when it comes to entrepreneurship and innovation. The new CBS elective helps create the framework for action-oriented partnerships between the educational system and the business community.
From research to business
At this very moment, more than 60 students from CBS, Aarhus School of Business, Roskilde University, University of Victoria, Canada, and National Taiwan are taking the new elective, in which theoretical knowledge within sustainable innovation is transferred into concrete solutions to real business challenges.
- It is in the intersection of theory and practice between companies and students with different academic approaches and nationalities that really innovative ideas and concepts emerge. It is important that companies also rely on knowledge outside their own ranks to create unique strategies, services, products, and concepts of use to the company itself, stakeholders, and society, says Business Developer Frederikke Kroon from Marketing Consulting Services. Together with CBS, Lund University, and Øresund Entrepreneurship Academy, Marketing Consulting Services is behind the new elective.
The fact that research must result in business is one of the reasons why the insurance company Codan and five other distinctive Danish companies have chosen to cooperate with CBS.
- Our ambition with this partnership is definitely to receive new input and ideas to how we, as a company, can become even more sustainable. We also see it as an important contribution to the students, who get to work with real challenges and workable solutions, says Jeanette Fangel Løgstrup, Director of Corporate Communications in Codan.
Invitation
The media is welcome to participate in chosen presentations of the specific results made by the students to the companies, but please contact Frederikke Kroon in advance on +45 20 92 70 60. Students, companies, and experts will be available for interviews.
Copenhagen Business School, Kilen, Room Ks43, Kilevej 14, 2000 Frederiksberg. Wednesday 3 December 9:00 – 21:00.