Addressing 350 Business School Deans at the EFMD Conference - Professor Geoffrey Lipman said that the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – provide a massive opportunity for the academic world, but they need to be approached with a big reality check on the tensions between aspiration, implementation, and finance. He also drew attention to the 15-year timeframe for delivery, with a bottom -up local action framework, reviewed and adjusted every 5 years.

In a session with EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc, UN Advisor Jeffrey Sachs and Per Cramer, Dean of Gothenburg Business School, Lipman noted that there are not just 17 Goals covering every aspect of life on the planet, but 169 targets and 304 indicators. He also underscored that every network across the world is establishing its own priorities and identified 3 key areas that would add to Business Schools traditional focus.

“Above all Climate Resilience” must be the overarching top focus, because it is existential. Existential means that if we don’t fix it future generations won’t survive” Lipman said.

Second, he underscored “Green Growth support” as a huge potential for job creation and SME development. He noted the challenges of lucid analysis and performance measurement, and suggested that the renewable energy and sustainable economy paradigms would offer massive new educational need.

Finally, he referenced “Impact-Travel” as an untapped area for Business Schools, Universities, and the School System. Lipman defined Impact-Travel as having positive and negative benefits measured and managed coherently; with Green Growth at the core and connected to the 4th Industrial Revolution. He concluded that this area cross cuts mobility, hospitality and support services, including a massive infrastructure demand and SME supply chain.