From 30 June to 5 July 2025, the TransLearnN Summer School of Course C2 “Sustainable Business Models” (SBMod) was held at the Ignacy Łukasiewicz Rzeszów University of Technology, Poland. The project, and consequently the Summer School, is co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships programme.

The third Summer School, “Innovative Practices”, marked the final stage of the project’s efforts to develop interdisciplinary courses based on best European practices to support Ukrainian higher education in the context of post-war reconstruction. The event aimed to equip students with the knowledge and tools to address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges by integrating sustainability principles into core business strategies through the application of key frameworks and practical approaches for designing responsible and profitable business models.

Students from various cities across Ukraine, who expressed interest in mastering an interdisciplinary course, participated in the programme. The course was developed collaboratively by teams from the partner universities of the international TransLearnN consortium. The event was organised by the Ignacy Łukasiewicz Rzeszów University of Technology under the supervision of the project coordinator, Mirosław Śmieszek.

The main objective of the Summer School was to develop students’ competencies in the following areas:

• Public administration – preparing future professionals for effective governance of sustainable development;

• Economic sectors – training representatives from various branches of the economy;

• Civic engagement – fostering the skills of civil society actors.

The intended learning outcomes included:

• understanding key pathways for transforming conventional business models into sustainable ones;

• assessing the prerequisites for integrating sustainability principles into business processes;

• developing a sustainability strategy from concept to implementation;

• building and managing communication with internal and external stakeholders;

• designing practical solutions and creating plans for sustainable business practices.

The Summer School had a blended structure:

First phase (online) – students were introduced to eight general lecture modules of the Sustainable Business Models course:

1. Fundamentals of sustainable business models

2. Circular economy and business

3. Implementing ESG: integrating sustainability principles into business strategies

4. Visualization of multidimensional data

5. Environmental innovations and business planning

6. Financial aspects of sustainable business models

7. Reporting and communication of sustainable business

8. Corporate climate responsibility

Second phase (30 June – 5 July, on-site in Poland) – an intensive hands-on programme held at the university campus in the protected town of Bezmiechowa Góra. The programme included:

• Business model diagnostics (Modules 1–2)

• Data assessment and visualization (Modules 3–4)

• Startup design with a focus on ESG (Module 5)

• Financial planning for sustainable innovations (Module 6)

• Crowdfunding campaign for climate-focused eco-innovations (Modules 7–8)