Die Salford Business School der Universität Salford, England, veranstaltet vom 4. bis 6. Dezember 2025 das Symposium “Sustainability in Executive Business Education Programmes”. Im Rahmen der Veranstaltung hält Dr. Tetiana Gorokhova, Gastwissenschaftlerin am CAIS, am 4. Dezember einen Vortrag mit dem Titel „AI Mindset in Entrepreneurial Spaces: Helping SMEs Use AI for Real Sustainability Gains“. Der Beitrag entstand gemeinsam mit Prof. Dr. Žaneta Simanavičienė, Kateryna Polupanova und Tetiana Polupanova.
Der Vortrag stellt ein laufendes internationales Executive-Trainingsprogramm vor, das auf dem Kurzlehrgang „Entrepreneurship and Innovation Based on Artificial Intelligence“ aufbaut und durch praxisnahe Aufgaben ergänzt wird. Die Teilnehmenden entwickeln dabei kostengünstige Prototypen nachhaltigkeitsrelevanter Anwendungsfälle und setzen diese in ersten Schritten praktisch um. Erste Ergebnisse zeigen positive Effekte: ein gestärktes Vertrauen in die Wahl geeigneter KI-Tools, engere Verknüpfungen zwischen Anwendungsfällen und Nachhaltigkeitszielen sowie ein klareres Verständnis ethischer Leitlinien wie Transparenz, Human-in-the-Loop und Datenminimierung.
Abstract
Small and medium-sized enterprises are central to the green transition, but many owners and managers still struggle to turn the promise of AI into visible results. This practice paper presents an ongoing international executive training built around a short course, “Entrepreneurship and Innovation Based on Artificial Intelligence”, paired with field assignments where participants prototype low-cost use cases – such as demand forecasting to cut waste, energy-aware scheduling, and repair/refurbish decision support.
The intervention is simple by design. First, a compact literacy module covers the essentials: data governance, bias, environmental footprint, and basic risk controls for AI. Second, a hands-on design sprint helps each participant choose one sustainability-linked process problem and map it to an AI-supported workflow. Third, participants draft a cautious implementation plan with clear metrics, rough costs, and compliance checks.
We track learning and early adoption using a pre/post survey and short reflective reports. Early signals are encouraging: participants report higher confidence in choosing fit-for-purpose AI tools, tighter links between use cases and SDG-relevant KPIs (such as materials and energy efficiency, error/waste reduction), and a clearer understanding of ethical guardrails (including transparency, human-in-the-loop, and data minimisation). Our contribution is threefold: (i) a ready-to-use micro-curriculum for executive and EBE settings; (ii) a straightforward rubric that ties SME AI use cases to sustainability metrics that matter; and (iii) a practical checklist of common pitfalls – tool-first thinking, metric myopia, and data-quality blind spots – paired with teaching responses. We conclude with a pragmatic pathway for resource-constrained SMEs and concrete advice on embedding responsible AI skills across executive programmes.
Das vollständige Programm des Symposiums kann hier aufgerufen werden:
https://surli.cc/mogqpj