7th International Conference on Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility

Exploring how digitization will change the way how companies do business, involve their stakeholders and contribute to societies’ wellbeing, is the focus of this year’s conference. Edward Freeman (Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia) emphasizes that "digitalization is changing the world. We have to rethink our basic ideas about business, ethics, privacy, and social responsibility. We need to have that conversation now." There will be eight plenary sessions on the first and second conference day, September 14th and 15th.

Sandra Waddock (Galligan Chair of Strategy and Carroll School Scholar of Corporate Responsibility, Carroll School of Management at Boston College) says: "In an era in which large system change is needed to ensure sustainability, social justice, and dignity for humanity and its enterprises, where transparency is ubiquitous whether it is desired or not, companies and the rest of us need to pay attention to what we are doing and how we are doing it." Sandra Waddock will receive the "Lifetime Achievement CSR Award 2016".

On the third and last day of the conference, on September 16th, there will be 38 breakout sessions. "Blockchain for Good: Distributed Ledger Technologies and the CSR Agenda", a session organized by Richard Adams (Surrey Center for the Digital Economy at University of Surrey) will explore questions like "What are the innovative applications of Distributed Ledger Technology in the context of CSR, climate change, energy and water use and management?". Gabriele Faber-Wiener (Founder and Partner of the Center for Responsible Management in Vienna) and her panelists will discuss "Digital Communication and Responsibility". A session co-organized with Giana Eckhardt (Professor of Marketing at Royal Holloway University of London) will analyse "Sharing Economy" with four presentations. A panel on "Ethical Fashion" organized by Sarah Jastram (HSBA - Hamburg School of Business Administration) and Anna-Maria Schneider (BMZ-Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development) explores new cooperative solutions and innovative business approaches towards finding more sustainable business practices and new forms of governance in the fashion sector.

Excerpt of confirmed Keynote Speakers

• Bastian Buck (Director GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards and Digital Reporting Alliance)
• Lisa Hehenberger (Professor at ESADE Business School, former Director of European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA))
• Rika Jean-François (Corporate Social Responsibility Commissioner at ITB Berlin)
• David Kiron (MIT and Executive Editor MIT Sloan Management Review’s Big Ideas Initiatives)
• Peter Lacy (Global Managing Director for Strategy and Sustainability Services at Accenture)
• David Nabarro (Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (via video))
• Richard Welford (Founder and Chairman of CSR Asia)
• Simon Zadek (Co-Director of the UNEP Inquiry into the Design of a Sustainable Financial System)

About the Humboldt CSR conference

The series of CSR Conferences has established itself as the world’s premier international forum for exploring the global themes of corporate sustainability and responsibility in all their manifold dimensions. Every two years, more than 500 leading academics, executives, policy makers, and representatives from civil society organizations from around the world have been meeting in Berlin to debate key questions from a diverse range of cultural perspectives and professional viewpoints. Inaugurated in 2004 as "a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue", the Humboldt CSR Conference Series has attained a remarkable degree of international relevance in a short period of time. Its stature is reflected not only in the sustained rise in delegate numbers, but also – most importantly – in the scope and caliber of its participants.

Conference App

Committed to a digitized world, this year’s CSR Conference app gives access to more information than any printed material. The CSR Conference App 2016 helps to navigate the three-day program and enhance the conference experience. The CSR Conference App is available in all app stores, for laptops, and desktops.

Doctoral Workshop

Preceding the "7th International CSR Conference" at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin there will be the "Doctoral Workshop 2016" supported by Microsoft and in collaboration with the HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration, on September 13th. The doctoral workshop attracts PhD candidates from social sciences, law, business sciences and economics as well as from natural sciences. The workshop focusses on interdisciplinary research in the fields of sustainability and CSR in a globalized context and gives PhD students a unique possibility to present and discuss their research projects in an inspiring academic community of both fellow PhD students and experienced researchers.

Für weitere Informationen können Sie hier die Konferenz-Broschüre herunterladen.