News

European Business School Leaders Affirm Relevance in the Future of Graduate Management Education

New report sheds light on emerging themes in an ever-changing GME landscape

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), a global association of leading graduate business schools, released an industry report on “The Future of Graduate Management Education” from the perspective of European business school deans. The one-of-a-kind report aims to make sense of the shifting graduate management education (GME) landscape and forecasts what the future holds for GME through interviewing 20 deans from a select group of European business school thought leaders. The resulting conversations contain rich insights for business school professionals as they cultivate the next generation of impactful business leaders.

“In a volatile world rife with disruption, business schools are standing at the forefront of change to ensure that they provide the most relevant experience to the leaders of tomorrow so that they have the skills needed to meet the changing needs of a dynamic and complex environment,” said Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO of GMAC.

“As GMAC continues to invest in advancing the sector and serving the needs of students, schools and employers, we appreciate the work of these deans to identify and harness the trends and challenges to continue to create relevant, meaningful and inclusive experiences for students across the globe.”

The forecasting and insights from the deans coalesced along five key thematic areas: the future of technology and digitization; the imperative for business schools to take a lead role in sustainability and social responsibility; upending the way curricula are developed and research applied; what does lifelong learning look like in a post-pandemic world and how business schools remain relevant and differentiate themselves in a dynamic, global market. The report concludes that technology and digitisation are now a way of life and no business school can operate without paying attention to its responsibility to, and place in, the wider society it serves. Business schools also need to rethink content and learning journeys all while ensuring they stay relevant in an ever-changing world.

“It’s not unusual to question the relevancy of graduate business education ─ in fact it’s healthy to do so ─ whether it can keep up with the pace of change and foster inclusive environments, it is clear that business school executives are fully committed to continuing being a key player in moulding the leaders who will impact the future of business, the future of society, and ultimately the future of the planet,” said Nalisha Patel, regional director for Europe at GMAC. “We are grateful to these deans for their candour and contributions to the GME community, and look forward to seeing the journey continue.”

To read the full report, visit GMAC.com.

• Whilst Boris gets distracted by cheese and coffee, business leaders, HR professionals and management teams meet debate the real issues faced by businesses in the post-covid world.
•  The argument is more than where we work, its how we work better, smarter, and more efficiently in the new era of work.

 A leading panel of experts will be debating this in London and Edinburgh this May and seek audience members with an opinion to attend.

As businesses continue to manage the transformation of work, fuelled by technology, and accelerated by the pandemic, companies are still facing a backlash from employees. As Boris Johnson admits he is distracted by coffee and cheese, and Lord Alan Sugar believes everyone should be back in the office full time, is the conversation heading in the wrong direction?

Since 2020, businesses have had to juggle the needs of their business, with the needs of the employees and customers. The argument is not about where we work, but how we can work better as we navigate the challenges of the post-covid world.

World-leading work futurist and author, Sophie Wadewill be chairing her first ever UK live panel debates in London, and Edinburgh this month. The topics for discussion will be culture and understanding your people, managing diversity and inclusion and how to ensure your business is future-proofed to attract the best talent, retain the finest people and ensuring a prosperous future for your business.

If you agree with Boris and Lord Sugar, or if you have found innovative ways to use technology to develop your business and have a success story to share, we would be delighted to have you in the interactive audience. Perhaps you have questions and lack solutions and would like to listen and network with your peers?

You can register and join us free at two live debates, one in London (24th May), followed by Edinburgh (26th May). The events will be recorded for use at events across the world.

Anyone registered and who attend will be provided an attendance certificate which can be used to log points against CPD programmes.

Event Details:

Panel Breakfast Briefing: Managing the Transformation of/at Work

Are you trying to figure out what work arrangements your company needs to offer to retain the talent you need? How well is the senior team at your company adapting to new business conditions? How confident are you that middle managers are engaging their teams to meet customers’ new and changing demands? What issues are lingering from the pandemic that need priority attention? Do you have concerns about attracting new, young recruits?

Do you have questions that keep you up at night about how to navigate a challenging marketplace? Now the Future of Work has arrived, accelerated by the pandemic, the technology-driven business environment is faster-paced and less predictable. Employees must respond more quickly and solve more complex issues in teams. Executives are facing unprecedented challenges as we emerge from the pandemic and try to forge a new way forward.

Arrivals: 8:15am. Estimated End Time: 10:30am

London Event Details:

The Panel: Martyn Sakol, Managing Partner, OE Cam, Sabrina Del Prete, Founder and CEO, Kore Labs, Angus Ridgway, CEO, Potentialife, Haddy Davies, CEng MIChemE

Location: Venue 1, 229 Great Portland Street, London, Greater London, W1W 5PN

Registration and attendance are completely FREE

Register here

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Edinburgh Event Details:

The Panel: Paul Reid, Founder and CEO at Trickle, Zahra Hedges, CEO, Winning Scotland, Neil Stevenson, CEO, Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, Adam Tuckwell, Managing Director at Mobas.

Location: The Scotsman Hotel, 20 North Bridge, Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH1 1TR

Registration and attendance are completely FREE

Register here

Glasgow and Tallinn-based technology startup Vistalworks has been named as one of ten companies selected to take part in Microsoft’s prestigious AI for Environmental Sustainability Accelerator programme. 

18/05/2022 – Vistalworks has created intelligence software and risk-profiling tools that help governments, enforcement agencies and industry combat the economic, social and environmental harms of online illicit trade. 

Vicky Brock, CEO and Co-Founder of Vistalworks commented: “Illegal trade in banned, smuggled, restricted, faked and dangerous products, which can be found openly on sale in mainstream ecommerce marketplaces, threatens every one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and progress towards Net Zero Climate targets. Every step forward that law-abiding companies and communities make is undermined when criminal sellers who do not follow the rules move in for a quick profit, with no regard for the human and environmental harm they cause. Vistalworks has developed technology to help prevent illicit trade and reduce the damage it causes.” 

The programme, launched in collaboration with the Met Office and Social Tech Trust, will support the cohort through a four-month programme to advance their environmental solution using Artificial Intelligence and advanced computing. Participants will benefit from coaching from Microsoft, the Met Office and Social Tech Trust, networking opportunities and funding support to scale their solution and put it in the hands of those who need it most. 

Vistalworks and the other 9 companies joined programme partners, investors and Microsoft’s UK Chief Sustainability Officer, Musidora Jorgensen, for a kick-off event at Microsoft’s UK headquarters in Reading on March 31. 

Jorgensen said: “Climate change is one of our most pressing threats and we need solutions quickly to deal with the problems we face. We know artificial intelligence is a powerful tool we can deploy today to make progress. These ten creative companies have been selected for their focus on significant industry challenges and our ambition is that with Microsoft’s support we can crack them.” 

Founded in Scotland in 2019, Vistalworks has used Estonian E-residency as route to grow their technology business internationally from day one. “Illicit trade in a cross-border problem, which requires a globally focussed technology solution. Estonian E-residency provided Vistalworks with the certainty we needed to plan for growth and deliver a solution across markets. Not only did it allow us to register an EU business, and all the associated thinking like EU VAT numbers and banking, it has kept a major market and many operating choices open for us. An unexpected benefit was that it completely flipped our thinking as entrepreneurs, so that we deliberately built for international markets much sooner than we would have done if we had only been focused on the UK. And I think that ambition is something that Microsoft recognises and, as a global leader in its commitment to enabling sustainability through technology, is exceptionally well positioned to help us develop.”

INDIA – 18 May 2022 – Infor, the industry cloud company, today announced that the CAMPCO Ltd. (Central Arecanut & Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative Limited), a leading processor of agri-based products like arecanut, cocoa, rubber and pepper, and a manufacturer of chocolate in India, has chosen Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage to digitally transform the business and unlock its next phase of growth. At the same time, CAMPCO aims to create opportunities for the socio-economic welfare of the farming community by optimizing an end-to-end supply chain network and promoting sustainable operations. The project is expected to go live in April 2023. The agreement to this effect has been entered into by CAMPCO President Kishore Kumar Kodgi; managing director Krishna Kumar and general manager Reshma Mallya at Hyderabad on 19 April 2022. 

Learn more about Infor CloudSuite Food & Beverage: https://www.infor.com/nordics/products/cloudsuite-food-and-beverage  

The CAMPCO Ltd. is a multi-state cooperative society instituted in 1973 to uplift the Arecanut market and the farming community. Its manufacturing plant at Puttur near Mangalore was set up in 1986 to establish an assured market for the cocoa produced in the region. Today, the factory produces over 23,000 tons of cocoa-based products, and the company also plans to expand its portfolio with other allied products such as coconut, pepper, and rubber. To meet this burgeoning growth, CAMPCO aims to empower a 150,000-strong farmers’ network with real-time market information to balance demand and supply. Visit www.campco.org and www.campcochocolates.com. 

CAMPCO faced the challenge of catering to India’s northern and western markets from its Mangalore production facility in the south and needed to improve its demand forecasting.  Additionally, gaining control over commodity price volatility is critical to mitigating the potential impact on the business. To address these modern challenges, CAMPCO chose Infor CloudSuite F&B to garner complete visibility across its supply chain and transform business operations with its deep expertise in the food & beverage vertical.

. Infor PLM for Process (Optiva) and Infor Birst BI solutions were selected to provide meaningful insights to make informed decisions.  

“CAMPCO’s vision for our milestone Golden Jubilee — “Saksham” — is our commitment to build a robust ecosystem of arecanut and cocoa farmers in the country. To fulfill our vision, it is critical to address key challenges like constant price fluctuations and access to real-time market requirements that impact the supply chain and production process. Hence, we required a solid digital platform to accelerate innovation and stay competitive,” said Krishna Kumar. “We’re excited to embark on this growth journey with Infor and help our farmer community steer through modern supply chain complexities. Furthermore, we are confident that this partnership will enable us to reduce product development cycles and deliver faster to market.” 

“Forecasting, demand planning, and scheduling are critical priorities in the food and beverage industry to improve scalability and drive the bottom line. Infor CloudSuite F&B enables manufacturers to stay current with the technical evolution required to innovate new product developments and drive seamless collaboration with suppliers, while meeting stringent regulatory compliance. Partnering with one of India’s top chocolate companies in its endeavors to better secure farmers’ futures is a prestigious win for Infor. With Infor’s industry-specific solutions finely tuned in the cloud, we look forward to delivering the strategic transformation required to drive their next growth phase and gain a competitive edge,” said Murali Manohar, Infor senior director and general manager for India subcontinent. 

The latest reports from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the number of job vacancies in February to April 2022 rose to a new record of 1,295,000, meaning that, for the first time, the number of vacancies was greater than the number of people unemployed in the UK. Responding to this, leading background screening and identity services firm, Sterling, has highlighted why these figures will drive greater demand for Digital Identity Solutions.

Steve Smith, Managing Director EMEA, commented:

“The fact that vacancies are continuing to break records across the UK, surpassing our unemployment rate, shows that employers are still struggling to find and hire staff – and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. It’s been no secret that businesses are facing a concerning dearth of talent while also having to scale up recruitment to a level that many haven’t faced before. In this environment, the risk to firms increases, with speed and urgency putting quality and compliance at risk.

“While Sterling would always advise businesses and hiring teams to ensure they do not compromise on compliance when employing new staff, we also recognise the need to speed up processes to support this demand. It is key to balance speed with the confidence for organizations to take the next step to build teams and cultures rooted in trust, safety, and authenticity. That’s why we believe that the latest announcement from the Home Office of the permanent introduction of digital identity screening is a positive one for the employment market.

“We saw, during the emergency measures that were put in place during the height of the pandemic, that digital right to work checks work well for employers and applicants alike, enabling completely remote hiring and faster onboarding processes for both employee and candidate.

“The need for innovation and technological evolution in the recruitment process has never been more critical and the shift to digital identity will be a real enabler for businesses looking to quickly and compliantly source new resources to meet the current demand.”

Budapest, Hungary, 17 May 2022 – Lightware Visual Engineering is excited to announce the appointment of Mark Minall as Vice President Defense and Intelligence. Mark will be the global lead for this rapidly expanding part of the Lightware business.

Mark brings more than three decades of experience in the Defense and Intelligence sector to Lightware. His military background in C5ISR (Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) combined with his successful business development and strategy experience since 2011 will see the global reach of Lightware products and services grow further into this sector. His last appointment was at Elbit Systems UK, where for nearly 5 years as Business Development Director, he successfully led the UK growth in the maritime domain and Electronic Warfare sector.  Mark is based in the UK.

“I am delighted to join Lightware and intend to build on its impressive success by further developing the Defense and Intelligence market,” says Mark Minall, Global VP Defense and Intelligence for Lightware. “I have a passion for innovation and technology and I’m looking forward to increasing brand awareness and familiarising the sector with Lightware’s innovative products and technologies.”

Gergely Vida, CEO at Lightware Visual Engineering said, “I welcome Mark as the VP of Defense and Intelligence. Mark, who has proven track record in business development and strategy with multi-national companies and a strong military background, will be a great representation of our brand on the global market.”

Lightware design and develop highly innovative, secure, zero-to low latency, scalable and interoperable COTS AV products and systems, some designed to meet NATO accreditation standards. Its high-fidelity solutions such as the MX modular matrix range and Data Diode Technology can be safely deployed within highly classified environments in line with national and international Information Assurance requirements.

“Lightware is proud to support mission-critical systems across land, air and sea domains, and has been delivering trusted AV solutions for defense and intelligence clients around the world for many years,” Vida adds. “We continually invest in this part of our business and look forward to supporting our Defense and Intelligence partners, customers and end-users as they place their trust and confidence in us.”

NEOMA Business School reveals the architectural plans for a new 109 million euro campus in Reims, which will open to students for the start of the 2025 academic year.

The campus will accommodate 4,700 students and cover 1.8 hectares of land.

Buildings will reflect the school’s commitment to sustainable development, meeting the standards of internationally recognised green building certifications such as LEED, WELL and E+C.

Its facilities will offer an extensive range of post-bachelor’s programmes and training provisions in line with NEOMA’s commitment to lifelong learning.

Included in this roster are the Master in Management, Master of Science, and PhD courses.

Over 40 internationally renowned architect firms competed to design the new learning habitat.

The contract was awarded to Danish company Henning Larsen for a design which combined innovation, respect for the environment and above all a focus on student life.

“This project offers several advantages, especially a strong visual identity which will make the campus clearly recognisable,” says Delphine Manceau, Dean of the school. “It combines very strong identifying elements, for example the large hall which places the student at the heart of the building. We also favoured the use of wood and glass to promote a friendly atmosphere and flood the area with light. Several easy-to-access green spaces are planned for both the inside and outside of the campus.”

Work is scheduled to start on the campus in April 2023.

Abstract Art Fair, the world’s first sustainable art fair, launches in Isleworth, Greater London on June 8th, Designed as a space to offer art lovers access to beautiful handcrafted, sustainable art at affordable prices, encouraging investment in art produced in England with zero-plastic. Taking place the week following the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the exhibition will be on for five days until June 12th, and will be a cultural highlight in the art calendar.

Presented by Abstract House, the UK’s leading manufacturer of sustainable art and picture frames, and hosted by entrepreneur Omar Obaid, an established abstract artist whose work was commissioned for Ceasar’s Forum, Las Vegas and has also appeared on Bravo! TV’s Million Dollar Listing New York.

The one-of-a-kind exhibition will showcase ‘The Green Room: Regeneration’, a visual display of dried flower wall art encompassing the impact our everyday patterns play on preserving nature’s beauty.
In addition, during the event, over 1000 seeds will be planted as part of a biophilic display to embrace the environment.

“Bringing art lovers together with gallery-quality, handcrafted and sustainable art is pivotal in encouraging a life-long investment in British art. Enabling an enjoyable platform to experience the art in person and discover art you love is what we are all about. Beautiful quality art that is produced in England needn’t cost the Earth, or the planet. As a 100% zero-plastic organisation, we are committed to sustainability in everything we do’. Omar Obaid, Abstract Art Fair CEO & Founder

Fair Highlights:

• A curated display of exceptional sustainable artworks on display, priced from GBP 50 to GBP 2000,
Exclusive exhibits including ‘The Green Room: Regeneration’, a stunning sensory display of dried flowers.
• 1000 seeds will be planted during the fair to promote environmental change.
• Special family sessions will take place on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th of June, with free activities including face painting and craft activities for children.
• All tickets are free and must be booked in advance at AbstractArtFair.com.
• Goody bags available for first 100 ticket holders.

A Celebration Of Quality British Art

Paving the way for art lovers to connect with and discover original handcrafted art they love, Abstract Art Fair will showcase the best of British talent, inspiring a love of art. With a vast selection of art styles and media on offer, priced from GBP 50 to GBP 2000, you will unveil the most affordable handmade art available in the UK.

The Green Room: Regeneration Exhibit Showcasing A Stunning Display Of Dried Flowers

Designed and curated by Fair Director Summer Obaid, The Green Room offers fair goers a glimpse into the future, a green future with preserved florals signifying the root and matter instilling nature with prospects of growth.

‘The Origin’ Environmental Exhibit Encouraging Prosperity And Growth

As part of the fair’s sustainability efforts as it is committed to carbon neutrality, ‘The Origin’ forms part of a special exhibit where 1000 seeds will be planted throughout the five-day fair, raising awareness of the changes we must make to help our planet thrive.

Exclusive Family Sessions Embrace A Love Of Art For All The Family

To make it accessible for families, and to encourage creativity for younger audiences, the fair have organised free fun-filled activities to entertain children at the fair between 11 am and 1 pm on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th Of June. The event will see complimentary face-painting by professional face painter ArtyCat Faces, alongside a wide range of crafts and activities for children in the Craft Corner.

Visiting The Fair

Abstract Art Fair and Abstract House, the fair’s organiser, are committed to ensuring fair visitors have an enjoyable experience and work in line with government advice. Hand sanitisation will be available to use upon arrival, along with deep cleaning at the end of each day.
Fair tickets are available to book online and must be booked in advance. Entry will not be permitted without a valid ticket.

London, 17th May, 2022 – UiPath (NYSE: PATH), a leading enterprise automation software company, and airSlate, a fast-growing workflow automation company, today announced a partnership to empower individuals and small businesses to create, innovate, and automate to digitally transform their organisations to run faster, easier, and more efficiently.  

With over 900,000 customers and 100 million users worldwide, airSlate offers a range of solutions from electronic signature offerings to document management solutions. The UiPath automation platform has been adopted by more than 10,000 organisations, including many of the world’s largest corporations and government agencies. Working together, both companies believe they can expand the range of options that small businesses have to become fully automated businesses. 

Small businesses account for more than 90% of all global companies. There are over 32 million small businesses in the United States alone, representing 99% of all companies. Both UiPath and airSlate believe there is a significant opportunity to remove mundane work and complement workers in small businesses with software robots that can help them both better serve customers and improve employee happiness. 

This partnership with airSlate will support the UiPath mission to build a new layer in the enterprise IT stack – the automation layer that will sit above existing systems and infrastructure and complete mundane work that is done by humans. 

Dhruv Asher, UiPath Senior Vice President for Alliances and Business Development commented: “Small businesses are the backbone of the global economy. airSlate’s impressive and efficient marketing model can rapidly attract global businesses worldwide. Through our collaboration, we will be able to enhance the automation potential for fast growing businesses, providing capabilities that can help smaller companies become large, more successful enterprises faster.” 

Borya Shakhnovich, CEO, airSlate said: “Now more than ever, we see huge demand from organisations of all sizes that need the agility and efficiency of the no-code airSlate platform to drive their business. This partnership with UiPath affirms the vision behind airSlate while exposing our solution to a broader enterprise market. The no-code revolution is only beginning, and partnerships like this will help power our team to innovate even more quickly, providing seamless business automation, and best-in-class functionality for our customers.” 

airSlate created and released this week a new integration with UiPath that enables customers to add automated document workflows into their UiPath processes that can: 

• Generate documents and forms with data provided by UiPath as well as many other systems;
• Send documents through the automated workflows for approval and signing;
• Collect data and bring it back to UiPath.

For more on this integration, please visit the UiPath Marketplace. 

About airSlate

airSlate is a global SaaS technology company that serves tens of millions of users worldwide with its no-code business process automation and document management solutions. The company’s PDF editing, e-signature workflow, and business process automation solutions empower users to digitally transform their businesses to run faster and easier. airSlate, pdfFiller, signNow, and USLegal make up the company’s portfolio of award-winning products.

About UiPath

UiPath has a vision to deliver the Fully Automated Enterprise™, one where companies use automation to unlock their greatest potential. UiPath offers an end-to-end platform for automation, combining the leading Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solution with a full suite of capabilities that enable every organisation to rapidly scale digital business operations.