Sustainability as a Driver of Innovation (Workshop) – Business Innovation Rather Than Sustainability as an Afterthought

The workshop is suitable for companies and organisations that want to go beyond viewing sustainability as a mere obligation, and instead wish to develop new business opportunities, fields of innovation, and concrete next steps from it. The format is particularly well-suited if you already have initial sustainability measures, ideas, or requirements in place, but want to connect them more strongly with your business model, strategy, and value creation.

The workshop is open to all industries and suitable for companies of different sizes – less important than the industry is the willingness to use sustainability as a field for development and innovation.

Ideally, a diverse group composed of individuals who can make strategic decisions, provide technical expertise, and facilitate implementation. This could include, for example, senior management, sustainability officers, strategy, product development, innovation, marketing, sales, HR, procurement, or operations.

The key thing is: the workshop is most effective when it includes not only sustainability experts, but also people who are well-acquainted with the business model, customers, processes, resources, and market requirements. We are planning for 12–24 participants for the format.

The workshop can take place as an offsite, at your premises, or online. For intensive work on business models, idea generation, and prioritisation, we often recommend an in-person format, as exchange, creativity, and group dynamics are particularly strong.

Online is also possible, especially if your team works remotely or if travel expenses are to be reduced. In this case, we use a digital Miro board and adapt the methods, pacing, and moderation accordingly.

The price includes the preparatory meeting, an online survey, a prepared Miro board, the conception and facilitation of the two-day workshop by two consultants, the results documentation, concrete recommendations for action, and a review session after 2–4 weeks.

The goal is that after the workshop, you will not only have inspiring ideas, but also a comprehensible selection of prioritised approaches and clear next steps for implementation.

Travel and accommodation costs are not included. We will agree these with you separately depending on the location, format, and specific requirements.

Also not included is the full implementation of the ideas developed in the workshop, for example detailed business cases, technical concept development, market research, supplier analyses, or long-term transformation support. If follow-on projects arise from this, we can plan those separately together as needed.

No, a finished sustainability strategy is not a prerequisite. The workshop also works if you are just starting out or your activities so far have been rather sporadic.

However, it is helpful if you have a basic understanding of your most important sustainability topics, business model logic, target groups, and current challenges. If little preparatory work has been done, we will gather the most important fundamentals through preparatory discussions and an online survey. If you already have a sustainability strategy, we will use it as a starting point and translate it more strongly into innovation fields and concrete business model ideas.

Yes, but with a clear classification: the workshop is not a substitute for a double materiality assessment, an ESRS report, or a pure compliance training.

It is particularly suitable if you want to develop concrete opportunities and innovation approaches from regulatory requirements, materiality topics, or strategic sustainability goals. If your central question is „What do we have to report?“, you will need a reporting or ESRS format. If your question is „What can we do with this for our business model, our offerings, and our impact?“, then this workshop is suitable.

AI is used as a tool for inspiration, changing perspectives, and developing ideas, but not as a substitute for your professional evaluation or strategic decision-making.

We use AI, for example, to develop future visions, sharpen customer perspectives, generate idea variations, question assumptions, or translate sustainability impulses into new business model options. The selection, prioritisation, and evaluation of ideas are carried out together with you, based on impact, feasibility, and strategic fit.

This depends primarily on date availability, the group of participants, and the desired format. As a rule, more advance notice is needed from the client's side than from ours. Consider the preparatory meeting, the online survey, the agreement on the workshop objective, and the organisational planning.

If your group is already established and decision-making paths are short, it can happen relatively quickly, within a few weeks. However, for good quality, we recommend considering not just the workshop date, but also the preparation and review session from the outset.