At AMS, 2018 will be a decisive year for sustainable transformation. 2017 has been an accelerating year for the formerly named Competence Center Corporate Responsibility. We have rebranded as the Sustainable Transformation Labwith the establishment of a Chair in Sustainable Transformation, supported by BASF,The Port of Antwerp and Randstad. The Chair has been taken up by Dr Wayne Visserwho is also the new Director of the Lab and full-time Professor of Integrated Value. One of the first objectives of the Lab and the Chair will be the launch of corporate leadership groups in five areas of innovation: the resilience, exponential, access, circular and well-being economies. More information about this Leadership Groups can you find here.

After 5 years of running the BASF Deloitte Chair on Sustainability, jointly held by the Antwerp University, faculty of applied sciences and AMS with Professor Luc Van Liedekerke as Chair came to an end early 2017.

We continued to work with partners Sustenuto and ING; and the Goodcrowd Stakeholder Consultation Tool – in partnership with Voka Mechelen, Spadel, Rosy Blueand Port of Antwerp – is almost ready. In terms of our own core business – education – we made significant progress on the integration of sustainability into our full-time master’s programs and hosted the launch of the Benelux and France Chapter of the Principles for Responsible Management Education. Read the press release here.

The kick off meeting and launch of the new Benelux and France PRME Chapter, hosted by AMS .

We have continued our Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Student Ambassador Campaign with over 50 students participating voluntarily in the creation of a range of projects, from giving SDG training at secondary schools, organizing an SDG debate night and an SDG movie night, to conducting SDG workshops for fellow students at their companies and taking the SDG Student Ambassadorship to China, where some students will spend their second term.

Our SDG Student Ambassadors presented their projects to the Queen during the Ondernemers voor Ondernemers Seminar November 21, 2017.

On research, we are in the development stages of the SDG Barometer Belgium project, in partnership with Louvain La Neuve School of Management, The Shift, CIFAL Flanders and the Federal Institute of Sustainable Development.

The seeds of sustainable transformation have been planted; some are starting to grow, while others are already reaching maturity. We hope you will stay connected with us in 2018, either through participation in one of our events, by joining one of the leadership groups or becoming a partner in a research project.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, creative and innovative 2018!

Professor Wayne Visser Chair and Director	Eva Geluk Manager	Adjunct Professor Lars Moratis