Sustainable development cannot be achieved by individual actors but requires widespread collaboration and strong partnerships. To strengthen HSG’s engagement with diverse societal actors, we aim to leverage knowledge and skills to help shape a positive future emanating from St.Gallen to the world.
By collaborating closely with internal and external stakeholders, HSG aims at driving societal transformation and helps to provide significant positive impacts to HSG’s surrounding community and beyond. In this context, we understand impact holistically as effects that we have on the economy, environment, and people as a result of our business activities and relationships, indicating our contribution to sustainable development.
The St.Gallen Transformation Lab is an open, participatory platform for promoting sustainability in the St.Gallen region - together with partners from science, business, and society. The Transformation Lab offers various support services and initiates projects to advance social innovation and positive regional development. A first set of projects are currently being developed in collaboration with partners. The work of the Transformation Lab is grounded in practical, action-oriented research, with findings widely shared and continuously refined.
The Transformation Lab serves as a nexus: the decentralized structure of HSG and its diverse connections with the region make it possible to develop and test new and innovative approaches for societal challenges in multiple locations both within and beyond the university. Building on this, the Transformation Lab enhances visibility, promotes networking and collaboration, and aims to increase the impact of the initiatives that arise.
Responsible entrepreneurship is a key lever to proactively shape a desirable future and grasp emerging opportunities. This is where the University of St.Gallen can contribute its key strengths: excellent economic and business knowledge with high practical relevance, and entrepreneurial, responsible personalities. Together with the complementary expertise of other stakeholders, this offers a unique opportunity to jointly develop successful and impactful solutions for the grand challenges of our time.
HSG has a vibrant entrepreneurial culture. Numerous internal and external initiatives tackle social and ecological sustainability issues. In doing so, dedicated HSG members are pioneering new approaches in all areas of our university. One example are successful spin-offs such as Planted Foods, OnlineDoctor, or Oxygen at Work.
In line with our slogan ‘from insight to impact’, research and teaching at HSG does not only focus on rigorous research but practical relevance. Insights into sustainability challenges are not only developed on rigorous academic grounds, but are also transferred as actionable knowledge, developed in collaboration with decision-makers from business, politics, and society.
In order to equip students with both academic and practical skills to help shape a positive future, real-world case studies and managerial impact projects are a mandatory part of HSG’s curriculum.
In addition, HSG faculty organise various conferences and events, communicate research outcomes in podcasts or videos, and engage with the media to stimulate societal discourse.
A new format is the St.Gallen Collegium: Outstanding personalities and researchers from all over the world convene in St.Gallen from 2025 onwards and, in exchange with personalities from business and society, jointly work on a project addressing grand challenges.
HSG is actively supporting bottom-up initiatives that leverage collective power and the strengths of our decentralised organisation to shape a positive change. For example, the Positive Impact Collaboration brings together interested faculty, staff, and students to jointly ideate, co-create, and refine projects that aim to better integrate sustainability and societal impact into HSG’s activities.
Furthermore, many initiatives have been started by students. In particular, the student organisation oikos has a long history of successfully implementing numerous local and global initiatives to achieve a more sustainable society. Other student-driven initiatives, such as the St.Gallen Symposium and START Global, have not only developed an international renown, but also actively promote dialogue and collaboration for a positive future.
In addition to students, faculty, and staff, our alumni play an important part in HSG’s community culture. Many events organised by HSG Alumni centre around sustainability-related topics. In addition, the HSG Alumni Sustainability Club and the Zukunft-Fabrik.2050 HSG Alumni Club connect like-minded people and organise thought-provoking panels on how to deal with the key challenges of our times.
