Making markets fit for the future

The new agenda for leadership, innovation and market transformation

At CISL, we bring together leaders, innovators, investors and policymakers to shape markets and lead transformational change in sectors, markets and places. 

Despite decades of global progress on climate change, equality, poverty reduction and nature restoration; global markets are still failing to deliver the right long-term outcomes for people, nature and climate.  Today’s markets largely incentivise and reward short term business models, behaviours and ways of operating, which undermine long term resilience and the foundations upon which markets stand.  

In the face of this, many promising innovations, technologies and business models which can help provide better outcomes struggle to scale because the conditions needed for success are not yet in place – markets have not formed or still favour and reward the status quo. 

Progress made to date will stall unless leaders in business and government now focus on creating the market conditions that allow better solutions to succeed everywhere, and for positive action to be rewarded. 

This hub brings together our work transforming markets, innovating at the systems level and how we help turn ambition into implementation, and leadership efforts into competitive advantage. 

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Why markets matter

Markets shape what succeeds. They influence where capital flows, which business models work, how value is recognised and whether innovations can scale. 

Building markets fit for the future means aligning policy, finance, capability, infrastructure and demand around shared goals that deliver long-term value for people, nature and the economy.  It means seeing resilience and sustainability as desirable and integrated goals, and organisational and economic competitiveness as the best means to achieve them – not a force to be countered. 

In competitive and sustainable markets, companies that prioritise business models, products and services that create social and environmental value alongside financial value will be rewarded, while those that erode societal value will need to adapt or risk failure. 

Read our Competing in the Age of Disruption which sets out the pathway to achieve and accelerate a market-wide transition. 

CISL insights and initiatives 

This hub brings together the latest examples of market transformation in practice, from transformational leadership development and innovation-scaling support to market-shaping initiatives and place-based action. 

Over the coming months, we will profile new flagship programmes, partnerships, research and initiatives that demonstrate different dimensions of market transformation in practice. Featured content will include: 

• The Cambridge Business Sustainability Programme: developing the leaders needed to navigate complexity and drive transformational change in sectors and markets. 
• The Cambridge Living Lab: a collaborative innovation platform for solutions to be validated and scaled, connecting supply and demand, and fostering collective ambition and action in specific places and across the built environment.  
• The Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy: CISL’s latest addition is a leading responsible AI centre, shaping the leadership conversation on how technology can support more resilient and inclusive societies. 
• New industry innovation accelerators: in specific economic sectors from food and agriculture to the bioeconomy, we will convene at systems level to help connect emerging solutions with routes to scale, whilst addressing market barriers to adoption.

Market Transformation in practice 

Transforming markets begins with understanding why progress stalls. 

Across sectors, new technologies and innovations are arising to offer new ways forward. The barriers to action are rarely technological alone. More they lie in regulation, infrastructure, finance, procurement, market design or the coordination required to bring different actors together and challenge the status quo. 

Across the built environment, the energy system, materials and manufacturing, food and land; the challenge is creating the conditions for change by aligning policy, investment, and incentives so that better solutions become the norm rather than the exception. We call this systems innovation.  

Through our programmes, partnerships and convening power, CISL works across sectors to help shape the market conditions that enable transformation. 

Explore our sector work sector work  

The capabilities needed for transformation

Creating markets fit for the future requires action across multiple fronts. No single intervention or organisation can deliver systemic change. 

For more than three decades, CISL has developed and deployed a range of capabilities designed to help leaders, institutions and markets navigate complexity and accelerate transformation towards more resilient, fair and sustainable economy.  

We do this through five interconnected capabilities: 

Help shape what comes next 

Making markets fit for the future requires collaboration between business, finance, government, innovators and civil society. 

Whether you are a leader, policymaker, investor, researcher or philanthropist, there are opportunities to contribute. 

Partner with us. Support our work. Join the conversation. Work with us