Sustainable Business and Innovation

You will learn how sustainability drives business:

• You will work with sustainability frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 3Ps (People, Planet, Profit), and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
• You will examine sustainability from a historical perspective and within the geopolitical context of a globalized world.
• You will explore new economic models, including the circular economy, regenerative economy, and social entrepreneurship.

You will dive into several specific business aspects:

• HR as an integral part of a sustainability strategy.
• We explore the strategic role HR can play in a sustainable enterprise.
• We delve into HR solutions and work hands-on with them.
• The supply chain plays a key role in sustainability. By understanding and recognizing the role of supply management and logistics, you will actively apply this knowledge.
• Other current and impactful topics are also covered in this module.

You will learn about methods to critically consult and assess different types of information sources. It is about gathering, validating, measuring and processing data to develop insights, strategies and appropriate actions, and reporting about sustainability parameters. You will be able to make the right calculations and decisions with the support of tools (e.g. AI).

You support the development of concrete business options and setting up the right priorities in the surrounding business ecosystem. This means that you consider different business models, gather and process inputs of relevant stakeholders (e.g. customers, suppliers,…). You will be able to distinguish between different options and make informed choices as a consultant and ambassador for the initiatives you are involved in.

Within sustainability it is of big importance to know how innovation can play a role in a business transformation process. You will need to solve specific problems within a company by using iterative techniques (e.g. product & service design thinking, co-creation) and process development. We immerse you in the trends, successes and failures of new technologies and what to integrate in the context of sustainability. The principles of intrapreneurship will help you to see and combine different perspectives to develop structural and impactful actions. You will apply your knowledge in real cases, explored in a multidisciplinary setting.

You will learn the basic principles of change management and what makes it part of sustainability. You will not only be able to understand the different parts of change but will also be able to enable change in different parts of an organisation, team and company. As a change manager you need to listen, to understand, formulate clear goals, empower and motivate colleagues and other stakeholders involved.  You keep the overview and bring in knowledge that is needed to get through the never-ending journey. You will have to cope with successes and failures throughout the process. Project and time management will be essential to analyze structural patterns in an organization.

This course is about fostering personal growth and self-awareness, encouraging reflection on values, beliefs, and emotions, and promoting the development of critical thinking skills to cultivate a deeper understanding of oneself and the world around them. This to become resilient, empathetic, and socially responsible in the business context and beyond.  We explore how to use talents and authentic leadership to make international and intercultural teams work in a business and the current world context. 

The theory and knowledge that you will gain during the different course units will come together and will be deepened during a series of cases, closely connected to different sustainability topics and specific sectors. The cases will both be conducted individually and in groups and will gradually evolve in complexity over the track.  At the end of the semester you will be immersed in a complex case where you have to demonstrate in thinking and doing what you have learned and personally integrated to create impact within the topic of sustainability.

This course will help you to develop your skills in Dutch, the language spoken in the Netherlands and in Flanders. The learning objective is to reach level A1 of the CEFR for languages: understand and use familiar everyday basic phrases, introduce yourself and others, interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. However, students who are fluent in German tend to learn Dutch very fast and can reach an A2 level in one semester and will have the chance to do so. You’ll learn about the culture of Antwerp and Belgium, you’ll  recognize grammatical structures (A1) and use them (A2), you’ll develop your vocabulary, listening and speaking skills and you can choose between a more interactive and fun approach or a more classical approach focusing on grammar and vocabulary.