Think Tank Asia: Creating Sustainable Innovation from Resource Scarcity

Organized by ESSEC Business School, the French Embassy in Singapore and Veolia Water Technologies, the first Think Tank Asia was successfully held on 10 December at ESSEC Asia-Pacific.

The workshop was opened by H.E. Benjamin Dubertret, Ambassador of France to Singapore, and Prof. Cedomir Nestorovic, Professor of International Marketing & Geopolitics at ESSEC Business School.

The one-day executive workshop brought together a circle of 20 leaders and influencers from major industries across Asia, to share their views on sustainability, industry specific needs, and green corporate agendas, so as to define future business models in a world of limited resources.

Led by Prof. Cedomir Nestorovic and Prof. Kevyn Yong, Academic Dean of ESSEC Asia-Pacific and Associate Professor of Management at ESSEC Business School, the Think Tank Asia workshop aimed to create awareness amongst leading international organizations and to encourage companies to understand and address challenges relating to business sustainability, rules and regulations in Asia, non-governmental organizations and green corporate agendas.

The workshop comprised courses on two main topics, namely “The Geopolitics of Limited Resources” and “The Challenge of Sustainable Innovation.” During the session on “The Geopolitics of Limited Resources,” Prof. Nestorovic addressed issues such as the geopolitics of natural resources as well as the pressures of limited resources on business and how companies can address them in view of maintaining and expanding their market presence.

Following this, Prof. Yong spoke about understanding the need for innovation, finding the right problems and being able to discover new opportunities for value creation.

Professor Kevyn Yong added, “As a business school, we are concerned about the development of future business leaders who will not only be skilled managers, but who will also see sustainability as a driver of strategic innovation. ESSEC’s educational approach has always been to pioneer business innovation and entrepreneurship, and it is boosted in ESSEC Asia-Pacific by combining Western and Asian philosophies."

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