The “Strategic Plan 2030”, adopted in 2025, provides the framework for the development of the University of St.Gallen (HSG) through 2030 and, among other things, pursues the vision of creating future-oriented solutions to the major challenges facing the economy and society. To refine the goals set forth in the plan, three key focus areas that shape the University’s profile were defined and adopted:
The Strategy Plan 2030 calls for HSG to leverage its strengths in economics to work with its partners to find answers to the major challenges of our time. In doing so, it will build on its strengths and experience to transcend disciplinary boundaries and address interdisciplinary topics at the intersection of economics, law, computer science, and social sciences. Thus, the University aims to increasingly position itself as a thought leader in public discourse and to gain recognition as such. However, this is only possible by defining key areas that shape the University’s profile as strategic guidelines intended to serve as a framework without restricting academic freedom. These key areas are:
The three key focus areas were developed following the adoption of the Strategic Plan 2030 in September 2025 through a participatory process that spanned several months. The foundational principles were developed by the President’s Board in close consultation with the Board of Governors and were subsequently discussed and refined with the deans of all schools as well as representatives of the Extended President’s Board. The goal was to define forward-looking topics that reflect the specific strengths of HSG. The Board of Governors approved these profile-defining focus areas in June 2026 upon request from the President’s Board.
The defined focus areas align with HSG’s holistic commitment to excellence as a “leading business university.” Accordingly, as interdisciplinary topics, they reflect the broad range of expertise within HSG. Through their daily work in research, teaching, continuing education, and transfer, members of the HSG community can give concrete form to these key focus areas and bring them to life. In this way, they contribute significantly to HSG’s clear strategic positioning. Furthermore, these focus areas will also be taken into account in future academic appointment procedures.
The key focus areas can and should be addressed in a wide variety of ways – both bottom-up and top-down. The following examples illustrate this.
The interdisciplinary Center for Geopolitics and Corporate Strategy has been in operation at HSG since September 2026. It brings together experts in strategic management, political science, economics, international law, tax law, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity. The new center aims to become an influential think tank for theory and practice in the fields of geopolitics and strategy.
The Center for Financial Services Innovation FSI-HSG, inaugurated in 2022, is funded by UBS (previously by Credit Suisse) with a total of 10 million Swiss francs to launch the center and establish several professorships. The center develops cutting-edge expertise at the intersection of finance, management, and law.
Under the label “HSG Entrepreneurship”, all university members are introduced to the various facets of entrepreneurship, and technology-oriented and knowledge-intensive startup and innovation projects are supported. These activities cover all phases of the entrepreneurial development process, from idea generation—such as through the HSG ETH Student Project House, launched in 2026—to educational and support programs for startups and scale-ups.
