Global BBA new intake: immediate immersion into innovation

1. The context

On 18 September 2025, the 380 new students on the Global BBA at NEOMA began their new academic career at the Paris campus. To get the new year off to a good start, the School organised an integration seminar, the ‘Sustainability in Action Seminar’, a two-day immersive challenge focussed on innovation and sustainable development.

2. The challenge

The students’ mission was to devise a sustainable entrepreneurial project. To do that they had to base their ideas on the 5Rs of the circular economy:

1. Refuse – avoid pointless consumption
2. Reduce – reduce use of resources
3. Reuse – extend the life of products
4. Repair – repair instead of throwing away
5. Recycle – turn waste into new resources

Led by coaches, former students or start-up managers from the campuses, they applied design thinking methods, a way of thinking inspired by the world of design, which helps you devise solutions starting from the actual needs of users. 

The seminar concluded with a final pitch to a judging panel, with the added bonus of a year’s incubation at NEOMA BS for the winning project.

3. The benefit to the students

In addition to the entrepreneurial experience, this seminar enabled students to develop key skills, such as teamwork, creativity, communication, and a critical mindset. For many of them, this was their first immersion into the culture of innovation, so dear to NEOMA. 

By tackling sustainable development right from the beginning of the year, the students gained awareness of the great economic and ecological challenges they will be facing in the future, while at the same time having a real experience of the levers of positive transformation.

A start to the new academic year that was inspiring, collaborative, and also committed to a sustainable future.