How CISL works with business
Working with global businesses to build transition strategies and capabilities that deliver resilience, competitiveness and long-term value in disrupted markets.
Balancing short-term operational demands whilst competing, and winning, in the long-term is the key challenge facing many businesses today.
We believe business has the opportunity to shape market transformation and benefit from the transition, both now and in the future.
Helping businesses compete in the age of disruption
CISL works with major businesses, financial institutions and entrepreneurs to accelerate innovation and build the strategies, capabilities and enabling conditions for rapid transition to economies that deliver for people, nature and climate by providing:
- Transition strategy and capability: We help senior leaders turn transition ambition into strategic advantage. Our work builds the strategy, capability and confidence organisations need to respond decisively to disruption and lead through change.
- Convening: We bring together the organisations and leaders needed to unlock progress where no single actor can succeed alone. By aligning incentives and building practical partnerships, we help shape the markets and systems that enable faster action.
- Innovation scaling: We help scale the innovations that can drive systemic change by connecting promising solutions with capital, demand and routes to deployment. Our work helps overcome the barriers that slow progress and turns innovation into practical impact.
All our work with business is underpinned by leading-edge research, insights and tools that enable us to shape and scale transformative leadership
Why businesses work with us
For over 35 years, we have worked with businesses and finance to address the most important sustainability challenges and create value for future competitiveness.
- Impact: We are an impact-led not-for-profit Institute of the University of Cambridge.
- Thought leadership: We use on leading-edge business and academic research to develop business approaches to driving resilience and value.
- Connectivity: We have unparalleled access to business and policy leaders, innovators and academics.
- Network: We work with our global network of over 40,000 leaders and industry practitioners to build practical and actionable approaches for business to create value and resilience.
- Global influence: We have offices and hubs in the UK, Brussels, South Africa, Singapore and Australia, and deliver programmes globally.
Examples of our work
Below we highlight some recent examples of our work. You can find further details on recent projects and who we work with here.
Working with leading manufacturers, we have co-created board-ready investment cases to inform capital allocation and support their organisations' leadership to confidently deliver materials and supply chain transition plans that deliver to their long-term strategy.
Working with a global food manufacturer, we are helping to develop and deliver their 2040 strategy by assessing current business strategies and developing pathways for transition that deliver commercial value and help to reshape resilience in their sector.
Working with a major telecoms provider, we have developed a series of senior-level sessions to integrate fragmented understandings of risk and enable more certain and systemic decision-making and a clearer pathway forward for the organisation.
Supporting a global brewer looking to set ambitious 2030 goals, we have delivered an in-depth strategic programme for 60 senior leaders across the organisation at a key point in their decision-making and implementation cycle.
How we deliver our work
For more than three decades, CISL has played a vital role in shaping business, finance and public policy debates that influence how economies grow, invest and respond to disruption. Our work is highly tailored to the needs of our clients, but typically includes:
Transition strategy and capabilities for business
From building resilience to maximising competitiveness, these programmes help teams to design practical pathways to succeed.
Global Innovation and Accelerator Programmes
Supporting organisations to develop commercially relevant approaches to innovation strategy and collaboration.
Policy and finance
Working with business and finance to shape the policy and market conditions for competitive, resilient and sustainable economies.