“I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” L.M. Montgomery’s words aptly capture how we feel about October as well. This is a month of reflections and anticipations as we take stock of our endeavors and prepare ourselves for upcoming events. 40 PhD and post-doctoral students as well as 9 faculty have participated in our three young scholars academies on development, economics and entrepreneurship. Our alumni met in Zurich and Warsaw. And the oikos Case Writing Competition was expanded with the addition of a new "Sustainable Finance" track. In the next few months, we bring to you many more opportunities to engage with oikos. Come join us at the FutureLab, the Alumni Debates, and the celebration of oikos Prague's 15th anniversary, check out our Fashion Webinars, submit a case to the oikos Case Writing Competition, or become a Student Reporter.
oikos Students
FutureLab 2013 “Transforming Education”: Register Now
The FutureLab is almost here and this is an event you should not miss. Our keynote speaker is Gib Bulloch, Founder and Executive Director of Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP), a ring-fenced not-for-profit consulting group within Accenture. Check out Gib’s Tedx talk "Be the change you want to see in your company”. If you are an alumnus/a or an advisor, make sure to register by 15October.
Call for Applications: Student Reporter at the oikos FutureLab
Join Student Reporter and report on co-creating the university of the future and student activism at the oikos FutureLab. Application deadline is on 10 October.
Become an Executive Board Member 2014
Are you a talented student interested in sustainable economics and management? Would you like to gain leadership experience in an international team by helping the growth of our network? If the answer to these questions is yes, then we have just the right opportunity for you. oikos international is recruiting the new Executive Board.
And the First Chapter to Launch its New Website Is… (drumroll) oikos St. Gallen! Following the launch of our new international website, oikos St. Gallen has taken the lead in rolling out the local chapter version. Visit oikos St. Gallen's website and let us know what you think.
Sustainable Energy for Europe Concluded In September, Warsaw welcomed the oikos international community to discuss future challenges of both the Polish and the European energy sector. Experts from various backgrounds fueled the debate on burning energy topics such as import dependency and reliance on conventional energy sources, diversification of energy supply and smart grids, and investments in the energy sector among others.
oikos Fashion Webinars The new oikos fashion webinar series starts in two weeks! This time you can get a certificate from oikos for an active participation. What do you need to do? Sign up for all the 5 webinars and solve a challenge by sending us a position paper of three pages on a given topic afterwards.
Student Reporter
Student Reporter currently reports on the Environmental and resource management, The World Economic Forum in Dalian, China and Social Innovations in Russia.
Student Reporter has openings for conference reporting projects on Inclusive Business (Istanbul), the Student Activism (St Gallen), and Impact Investment (Zurich). And an editor position in Switzerland.
oikos Alumni
15th Anniversary of oikos Prague: Alumni Meeting oikos Prague is celebrating its 15th anniversary! oikos alumni in Prague are invited to be a part of this historic evening. The meeting will take place 22 November at 5 p.m. in a new vegan restaurant, Plevel. For further information, please contact Marie Horniecká.
oikos Alumni Debates in your city!
oikos Alumni Debates is a platform to bring different generations of former oikos members together to discuss topics that they are passionate about. Check out the impressions from an evening of lively alumni debate in Zurich on Growth and Sustainability. If you are interested in bringing this event to your city, please contact Adriana Troxler.
oikos Warsaw alumni meeting Our alumni in Warsaw met on the 14 September at thepub"Znośna Lekkość Bytu". They had the opportunity to interact with the attendees of the CEE Meeting and participants of the oikos PhD seminar. It was an evening of getting to know one another, sharing ideas, and developing potential cooperation.
LinkedIn for Alumni
Are you an alumna/alumnus? Keep in touch via Linkedin.
oikos Academic
New Track on Sustainable Finance in the oikos Case Writing Competition 2014
We are delighted to announce that we have added a third track on Sustainable Finance to our annual Case Writing Competition. As with the existing tracks on “Corporate Sustainability” and “Social Entrepreneurship”, the new track will award leading cases on finance and sustainability with a first prize of 5’000 CHF (2nd: CHF 2’000, 3rd: 1’000 CHF). The new deadline for the competition this year is 9 December, 2013.
oikos Case Quarterly issue 11: The Tourism Industry
The latest issue of the oikos Case Quarterly focuses on the challenges and opportunities the tourism sector faces to behave in a truly sustainable manner. Three cases are featured. The first case presents the strategic efforts and initiatives of a cruise ship builder, Holland America Line, to improve its fuel efficiency. The second and third reflect on the internal implementation processes as well as the difficulties in the adoption of environmental management practices and their communication through eco-labels in two companies from the hospitality industry.
A hattrick of oikos Young Scholars Academies
We had a series of oikos Young Scholars Academies starting with the Entrepreneurship Academy in Filzbach, Switzerland, followed by the Development Academy in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Economics Academy in Filzbach, Switzerland. Each Academy offers a group of 15 PhD students and post-doctoral researchers a seminar to discuss and advance their thesis and build international research relations.
Guillermo Casasnovas and Bogdan Prokopovych, participants of the oikos Young Scholars Entrepreneurship Academy 2013, share their reflection on the Hybrid Ventures in the Swiss Alps.
30 seconds with...
30 sec with Gibran Watfe oikos Maastricht alumnus
In 2012, I was the academic activities coordinator within the board of oikos Maastricht. During that time, I was happy to get to know the international oikos community at the Spring Meeting in Barcelona. Besides the time we spent in clubs and on the beach, it fascinated me how much energy everyone was willing to give in order to establish sustainability as a flagship topic in their faculties. In Maastricht, we organized a conference on business opportunities in sustainability and pushed forward sustainability education within the faculty and the university as a whole. I was lucky to be part of this very active network with many interested and engaged members.
When I became an alumnus, I started to work at an environmental policy think tank, the Ecologic Institute, in Berlin. A few months ago then, I quit my job and started my own business: rethink finance. With rethink finance, I and my two partners want young people to realize for which cause the money in their bank account is working. We want to provide them with information about alternative banks and alternative financial products that offer a high degree of transparency and only invest in sustainable projects and firms. On top of that, we also offer these products directly on our website. We are online since July and we could not be happier how things have turned out so far (check us out: www.rethinkfinance.de; www.facebook.com/rethinkfinance; http://blog.rethinkfinance.de)
My time with oikos has helped me a lot to take that step to found my own sustainability-related business. It did so in three ways: I learned a lot how to network and how to lobby for sustainability issues. Also, I got to know enthusiastic people, which I am still in close contact with. Finally, it was amazing to experience the feeling to make a difference in a sustainability context and to work with an engaged community. Therefore: thank you very much oikos!
Outlook
8 - 10 November: Chapter Presidents Meeting in St. Gallen, Switzerland
&
11 - 12 November: oikos FutureLab 2013 in St. Gallen, Switzerland
22 November: 15th Anniversary of oikos Prague at the Restaurant Plevel, Prague, Czech Republic
21 February – 2 March: oikos Winter School, Witten/Herdecke, Germany
Contribute
Let people know what you are up to and submit your oikos News for the next newsletter to: update@oikosinternational.org
Meet oikos
Shailee Pradhan, oikos PhD Fellow, 5 October - 20 December,
Iloilo City, Philippines
Fabienne Meienberger, President, oikos St. Gallen, 10 October, Panel at HSG, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Tim Lehmann, oikos PhD Fellow, 17-19 October, Online News Association 2013, Atlanta, USA
Tim Lehmann, oikos PhD Felow, 21 - 3 November, We Work, New York, USA
The FutureLab is almost here and this is an event you should not miss. Our keynote speaker is Gib Bulloch, Founder and Executive Director of Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP), a ring-fenced not-for-profit consulting group within Accenture. Check out Gib’s 
Are you a talented student interested in sustainable economics and management? Would you like to gain leadership experience in an international team by helping the growth of our network? If the answer to these questions is yes, then we have just the right opportunity for you. oikos international is recruiting the new Executive Board. 
(drumroll) oikos St. Gallen! Following the launch of our new international website, oikos St. Gallen has taken the lead in rolling out the local chapter version. Visit oikos St. Gallen's website and let us know what you think. 
In September, Warsaw welcomed the oikos international community to discuss future challenges of both the Polish and the European energy sector. Experts from various backgrounds fueled the debate on burning energy topics such as import dependency and reliance on conventional energy sources, diversification of energy supply and smart grids, and investments in the energy sector among others. 
We had a series of oikos Young Scholars Academies starting with the Entrepreneurship Academy in Filzbach, Switzerland, followed by the Development Academy in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Economics Academy in Filzbach, Switzerland. Each Academy offers a group of 15 PhD students and 
In 2012, I was the academic activities coordinator within the board of oikos Maastricht. During that time, I was happy to get to know the international oikos community at the Spring Meeting in Barcelona. Besides the time we spent in clubs and on the beach, it fascinated me how much energy everyone was willing to give in order to establish sustainability as a flagship topic in their faculties. In Maastricht, we organized a conference on business opportunities in sustainability and pushed forward sustainability education within the faculty and the university as a whole. I was lucky to be part of this very active network with many interested and engaged members.