Network Meeting of PRME Champions at Leuphana
2026-09-03 “We can’t do this alone.” — At the network meeting of the “Champions,” a select group of business schools participating in the PRME initiative (PRME = “Principles for Responsible Management Education”), Paul Drews, dean of the Leuphana School of Management and Technology, emphasized how important long-term collaboration between universities and industry partners is for societal transformation.
“All too often, transfer is thought of as a one-way process. But we view it as a two-way process,” said Drews, who also serves as the scientific director of TrICo, the home project of the Leuphana Innovation Communities. “We want to initiate long-term partnerships with the Innovation Communities. Accordingly, we rely on both in-person and digital formats that we tailor to the respective target groups, develop further together with them, and which can thus become established over the long term.”
Timm Duffner from Heyho then demonstrated what such a long-term partnership might look like. Duffner and his team are not only part of the Leuphana Social Innovation Community but have also been working with Leuphana for several years to make their business model replicable for others. Their motto: “We don’t employ people to roast granola; we roast granola to employ people.” The international guests were then able to see for themselves how this works in practice during a visit to the roasting facility.
PRME is a United Nations-supported network that aims to further integrate sustainability and social responsibility into economics programs and business schools. More than 800 universities from over 90 countries worldwide are members of the initiative. Leuphana University Lüneburg has been part of the network since 2019, and its involvement is led by Professor Hannah Trittin-Ulbrich. From September 2 to 4, the network will host the 13th International Responsible Management Education Research (RMER) Conference, offering attendees the opportunity to discuss the future of management education.
The conference hosts at Leuphana are Professors Hannah Trittin-Ulbrich and Stefanie Habersang. The conference is funded by the Lower Saxony state government's Vorab program.