International conference on Business, Policy and Sustainability
Abstract
The International Conference on Business, Policy and Sustainability is hosted at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and will be held from 16 – 17 June 2016. The conference will explore the theme of national and global policy, business and academic approaches to sustainability. The conference is co-organized by the CBS Sustainability Platform and the Velux Chair in Corporate Sustainability at CBS. It is also sponsored by the Carlsbergfondet, Danish Society For Education And Business (DSEB), Ministry of Higher Education and Science, (WCRE) Governing Responsible Business, and Velux Foundations. The purpose is to provide a forum for high quality participants (scholars and practitioners) for discussion of current and possible interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability. The conference serves future knowledge exchange and collective research applications.
Increasingly, complex, usually global, sustainability issues present challenges for business, government, universities and civil society that they are unable to solve alone. However, these challenges are also opportunities for fruitful collaboration and solutions. These challenges include environmental issues such as climate change, increased CO2 emissions, and energy consumption but also include social challenges such as poverty, health and labour conditions. Research suggests that these global challenges require partnerships between private and public sectors, or multi-stakeholder initiatives that also involve non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, venture capital and universities. Thus, there is a demand for global sustainability experts to build collaborative networks i.e. through conferences, which can bridge “disciplinary silos” and generate relevant and interdisciplinary knowledge, to contribute to sustainable societal innovation.
The proposed conference theme seeks to identify the challenges for academia and practice in bridging these interdisciplinary gaps and exploring the opportunities and approaches already at hand to meet these challenges. Thus on the first day the conference will explore business and public challenges and solutions to sustainability to ensure that participants are exposed to concrete examples and provided with a forum for constructive interaction and discussion. The generation of ideas and different approaches to sustainability may be tested here for future cross sector collaboration and solutions in Denmark, the Nordic region and globally.
The role which universities can play in solving and approaching sustainability challenges (individually or jointly) will also be explored. The recent launch of the Copenhagen Sustainability Initiative (COSI), a partnership between Copenhagen Business School (CBS), The University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), linking the university initiatives within research (i.e. joint applications), education (e.g. combined educational courses) and concrete engagement with practice within sustainability, provides fertile ground for exploration of the efficacy and future possibilities of these partnerships.
Selected keynote speakers June 16th:
Connie Hedegaard (Former European Commissioner for Climate Action, KR Foundation), Hans Bruyninckx (Executive Director, European Environment Agency), Annette Stube (Director of Group Sustainability in A.P. Moller – Maersk and Adjunct Professor at CBS, Copenhagen Business School), Dirk Matten (Professor of Strategy Hewlett-Packard Chair in CSR, York University), and R. Edward Freeman (Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia), Gail Whiteman (World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD); Lancaster University)
Selected keynote speakers June 17th:
Peter Jonasson Pedersen (CFO, Banedanmark), Jonas Haertle (United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN PRME)), and Per Østergaard Jacobsen (External lecturer, Department of Operations Management and Project Manager, Rio to Roskilde)