Responsible Innovation Summit at the Faculty of Business and Economics

Joint action by business and society

As a result of advancing digitalisation and climate change, the economy and society are increasingly confronted with changing framework conditions that make responsible and sustainable innovation increasingly necessary. This affects society, politics, companies and private individuals alike - everyone is called upon to act together. The Faculty of Business and Economics therefore hosted the third public Responsible Innovation Summit on Thursday, 13 June 2024, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Central Lecture Hall Building on the campus of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. The alumni conference offers a discussion forum to address the topic of innovative capacity from various perspectives and the relevant issues.

The conference also sees itself as a platform for networking between business, students, alumni and the general public. In presentations and workshops, members of the management and boards of various companies spoke about topics such as sustainable investment, innovation and growth strategies, measures to combat the gender pay gap and how retail companies can organise their value chains sustainably. The individual events were each organised by alumni and professors from the faculty.

In the morning, Kathrin Dahnke (member of the supervisory board of Knorr Bremse AG and Jungheinrich AG, among others) and Dr Christian H. Meyer (CFO of K+S Aktiengesellschaft) reported on sustainability aspects from the perspective of supervisory boards and management boards in their keynote speeches.

In addition, students presented the results of their seminar "Responsible Innovation in Theory and Practice" for the first time in a poster session. In the course, the students analysed the various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations from a practical and scientific perspective. They presented a topic of their choice on posters, e.g. implementation and sustainability strategies in companies, development of sustainable products or influencing consumer behaviour.

The panel discussion in the afternoon focussed on the topic of "Bridging the Gap: How employers can meet the needs of different generations". Fatriyani Fauzan-Magerl (Head of Recruiting & Employer Branding, Ottobock), Dr Marko Weinrich (Managing Director, CEO at Arineo GmbH), David Voggeser (Partner, hkp Group) and Prof. Dr Indre Maurer (Professor of Organisation and Corporate Development) discussed the topic together.

From 9 pm, professors from the faculty will perform as DJs at Club Savoy. All ticket proceeds were donated to the Göttingen Children's Hospice. The Faculty of Business and Economics organised the "Profs@Turntables" event together with the Leo Club Gutingi Göttingen and the Savoy for the first time as the conclusion of the Responsible Innovation Summit.

The Responsible Innovation Summit is an alumni-sponsored event for companies, founders, scientists and students alike and is held under the motto of sustainable development and transformation. "Responsible Innovation", i.e. the idea of enlightened, responsible innovation activity by economic actors (individuals or organisations), forms the overarching guiding principle of the faculty in research and teaching. The conference was organised with the kind support of KWS Saat SE and Sartorius. The event took place in German. Further information about the programme and the speakers: https://ris-goettingen.de/ (in German)