Integrating CSR & SDG's at the core of early-stage incubating startups

A cross-discipline businesslab BIZathon program for HKU MBA businesslab and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology MBA students to work as startup teams on a cross-discipline one week intense program (hackathon) focusing on the integration of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG;s) on early startup projects.

During the 1-week program, students from both business schools  ideated, iterated, evolved and pivoted CSR and SDG concepts for this edition's incubation projects. Two teams were awarded for their social and business impact approaches. 

SDG BIZATHON 2017 PROJECTS
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AWARDS

The six participating cross-discipline teams' focus, speed and efficiency in framing CSR and SDG's concepts within the core of their incubation projects were of high professional standards. Two  teams were awarded for their excellence in business & social impact:
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Best CSR & SDG Business Impact
Winner:  3Beebox

Best CSR & SDG Social Impact
Winner: U3

The jury panel of the businesslab SDG BIZathon program finals included:
Laurent Timmermans, CEO & Managing Director at Athenasia Consulting
Ronald Kwok, Partner Channel Manager at Microsoft
Isabella Carvalho Silva, FinTech Consultant and Angel Investor
Musheer Ahmed, General Manager at Hong Kong FinTech Association
Pritish Sanyal , Director of Business Development at Hype

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS - SDG's

On 19 July 2014, the UN General Assembly's Open Working Group (OWG) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) forwarded a proposal for the SDGs to the Assembly. The proposal contained 17 goals with 169 targets covering a broad range of sustainable development issues. These included ending poverty and hunger, improving health and education, making cities more sustainable, combating climate change, and protecting oceans and forests. On 5 December 2014, the UN General Assembly accepted the Secretary-General's Synthesis Report which stated that the agenda for the post-2015 SDG process would be based on the OWG proposals.

​ESCAP resolution 72/6 ‘Committing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific’ requests the Executive Secretary to “strengthen support to member States in their efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda in an integrated approach, inter alia, with analytical products, technical services and capacity-building initiatives through knowledge-sharing products and platforms, and to enhance data and statistical capacities”.

In addition, Member States, in the third session of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD) highlighted how the 2030 Agenda provides an opportunity to shift away from “business as usual” and to more effectively address multi-sectoral challenges. More holistic approaches that integrate the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development were seen as indispensable to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSABILITY - CSR

Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship or responsible business)is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a self-regulatory mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards and national or international norms.

With some models, a firm's implementation of CSR goes beyond compliance and statutory requirements, which engages in "actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law". 

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