Social, economic and ecological: At the Global Social Business Summit Berlin – The Gathering 2019 (GSBS) – 550 representatives from business, science, politics and society are discussing business models that pursue social and ecological goals and are profitable at the same time.

The conference with participants from 54 countries is taking place on 7 and 8 November in Berlin. For the fourth time, Volkswagen Group is supporting the annual conference with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus and is represented by three members of the Group Management Board: Hiltrud Werner, Integrity and Law, Gunnar Kilian, Human Resources, and An-dreas Renschler, Truck & Bus brand group and CEO of TRATON SE.

“Volkswagen is more and more addressing the question of how we, as one of the world’s leading automotive companies, can contribute to changing the world for the better, not only in terms of mobility, but also socially and ecologically,” says Kilian. “Disruptive leaps in technology, social imbalances and the increasing environmental sensitivity of our society demand solution focused answers from business, politics and society.

Andreas Renschler explains: “Especially as managers, we are responsible for far more than just bare business figures. We are partly responsible for creating a society that offers opportunities for all”.

Hiltrud Werner, board member for Integrity and Legal Affairs, points out that the Volkswagen Group assumes social responsibility in the sector of its core competence – mobility.”With electric driving, digital networking and autonomous driving, we want to make the car cleaner, quieter, more intelligent and safer. The Volkswagen ID.3

is the first net CO2-neutral car,” says Werner. “We are absolutely convinced that by sustainable and social action we can simultaneously create employment, soften monostructural economic imbalances and support people find work who do not have access to traditional industrial labor.

The Global Social Business Summit is the world’s leading forum for social business. It was launched in 2009 under the leadership of the Nobel Peace Prize winner and Bengali economist Professor Muhammad Yunus. “We are blessed to have been born in an age of great opportunity – an age of amazing technologies, great wealth and limitless human potential. Now the solutions to many of the world’s most pressing problems – including hunger, poverty and diseases that have plagued humanity even before history began – are within reach. Most of these solutions could be accelerated by the creation of a new economic order that includes the powerful instrument of social business,” says Professor Yunus.

International social business protagonists present their ideas for a more sustainable and social world in various workshops and work with the Volkswagen Group on their own possible social business projects. The goal is to combine social and environmentally friendly solutions with a profitable business model.

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