Launched in 2007 by the United Nations, the PRME Initiative aims to incorporate sustainable development principles in business and management schools and develop the students of today into the responsible decision-makers of tomorrow.

In order to foster collaboration between companies and business schools focused on sustainability, PRME instituted the "PRME Innovation Challenge programme" in 2017. The program is an opportunity for companies to collaborate with innovative student teams from various business and management schools across the world. Nikolay Ivanov, Manager, PRME Secretariat says: "With more than 800 signatories around the world, the PRME initiative is expanding every year. Through this Innovation Challenge, we hope to help companies like Manitou Group achieve their CSR objectives while providing real-life engagement opportunity for students at PRME schools. Bringing companies and Higher Education Institutions together allows us to expand our stakeholder engagement while involving future generations of decision-makers." 

For this 2020 edition of the Innovation Challenge, Manitou Group decided to join forces with a team from the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines. The objective of this collaboration: continuing the transformation and advancing the Group's CSR strategy in line with the expectations of its employees, customers, suppliers, and partners. Aude Brézac, CSR Director, explains this choice: "The critical analysis of our current approach and the methodology that the students have proposed to consult with our stakeholders won us over in particular. Given the global scale of the group, the cultural differences within the team combined with their international perspective of CSR challenges were also important elements in our decision."

This Innovation Challenge offers mutual advantages. The students are trained in sustainable management through practical case studies, while Manitou Group gains from quality support in redefining its CSR strategy. The report by the Asian Institute of Management team was greatly appreciated by the jury at the Finale: "This presented solution addresses well the jury's criteria. The methodology and the level of work were particularly impressive. Students have spent a lot of time to involve all stakeholders of Manitou Group. They also have taken into consideration the global innovation & transformation processes in their very ambitious recommendation". 

Aude Brézac notes: "We are really proud of our winning team! I would like to thank the MBA students of the Asian Institute of Management for their efforts over the past 9 months in a particular context and for the quality of their work. We had continuous and constructive exchanges during this period, and they brought us a fresh perspective with innovative and inspiring practices from benchmarks to challenge our strategy. Their restitution was also professional and well appreciated by our Executive Committee. We must continue our efforts to make environmental and societal challenges sources of added value and differentiation." 

Thanks to this collaboration with the Asian Institute of Management, Manitou Group is committed to implementing an action plan in the coming years to achieve the goal set by this new CSR roadmap.