Sustainable business models - how can the transformation of the economy succeed?

On May 17, the event, which focused on the core question of how business models can be made more sustainable, took place. The lecture was organized by the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research (ENI) supported by the organizers of the Sustainability Weeks @Universities BAWÜ.

Participating as speakers were:

• Camilo Lancheros (M.Sc. WASTE and research assistant ENI)
• Katrin Kreidel and Gibran Khoury (Hydrop)
• Henning Tschunt and Nils Bachmann (Proservation)
• Yannis Frek (Ekipa)

The current edition of the Lunch Pitches was dedicated to the topic "Sustainable Business Models". Camilo Lancheros opened the event with a presentation on Circular Business Models. This was followed by pitches and founder stories from Hydrop, Proservation and Ekipa. According to the founders, sustainability will replace digitalization as the number 1 megatrend. Sustainability requires a rethink with regard to value chains and in the mindset of companies. Existing companies in particular are still finding it difficult to adopt a consistently sustainable approach. Here, a lack of awareness and established thought structures are the main obstacles to change towards sustainability. For startups, sustainability offers opportunities and hurdles at the same time. Startups generally already have a hard time establishing themselves in the market - the requirement for sustainability adds another condition that must be met. However, sustainability also offers opportunities to strike out in new directions and to set themselves apart from potential competitors.