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28 BizEd MAY | JUNE 2015 Rangnekar notes. He points to studies conducted by ISB's Centre for Emerging Market Solutions (CEMS) about the impact of green building on low-income housing. "We've worked with private developers to help them build townships for the poor, a precursor to building 'smart cities' in a developing nation," says Rangnekar. "We did these projects to demonstrate to government, private developers, funders, and the end users that it's possible to build aˆordable and fundable homes for the poor." Now, some developers have begun similar aˆord- able housing projects in the western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra based on their work with the center. In 2011, the CEMS also set up its Cli- mate Policy Initiative, which generates research to help policymakers under- stand the best ways to reduce India's carbon emissions through cost-eˆective use of renewable energy. Its first paper, "Meeting India's Renewable Energy Tar- gets: The Financing Challenge," led to ongoing work between researchers and India's Ministry of Finance and Minis- try of New and Renewable Energy. ISB recently branched out into other areas related to emerging market chal- lenges—so many that its initiatives have grown beyond the capacity of a single center. "CEMS was originally created as an omnibus center to deal with a wide variety of emerging economy issues and explore market-based solutions," explains Rangnekar. But now that the school has received additional funding, it has created several topic-specific institutes and distributed the center's work and faculty among them. For instance, the Punj Lloyd Institute for Infrastructure Management at ISB's newly opened Mohali campus will focus on urbanization and infrastructure. The Bharti Institute for Public Policy will work in areas such as food distribution and climate change. The Max Insti- tute for Healthcare Management will focus on the country's need for e§cient healthcare systems. ISB has other insti- tutes planned as funds become available, including one for entrepreneurship. Within these institutes, ISB has launched programs tailored to the specific needs of executives in emerging markets. For instance, its one-year pro- gram in public policy consists of three 17-week terms and is delivered pri- marily online; students attend intense face-to-face residencies twice during each term, alternating between ISB's Hyderabad and Mohali campuses. ISB oˆers similar programs in manufactur- ing and business analytics, with those in healthcare management and infra- structure management almost ready to launch. The school is recruiting more faculty so that it can design MBA-level and executive education programs in areas such as supply chain management and digital technology. These kinds of programs—focused on skills related to infrastructure and pub- lic services—are in great demand, says Rangnekar, not only across India but in many emerging markets. ISB has begun working with various state governments in India to deliver these programs to their personnel and provide better service to the community. After these programs have been tested in India, ISB plans to contact governments in Africa to gauge their interest in delivering them to their own staˆ. 'A MORE EQUITABLE WORLD' While business schools everywhere are concerned about their impact on their IMPACT PROJECT In October 2014, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD) o•cially launched the Business Schools for Impact Initia- tive at its World Investment Forum in Switzerland. The initiative is a joint e†ort of the UNCTD, the Global Alliance in Management Education, and the Global Business Schools Network. The initiative aims to improve business training and increase investment in emerging markets, part of the global e†ort to achieve the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030. The Impact Initiative already has collected course modules from schools worldwide, and these modules are now posted on its website as examples of the type of business training leaders will need to help grow emerging economies. One of the initiative's biggest projects is to design an integrated Global Impact Master's Program, which, when completed, will be available to all business schools. The curriculum will emphasize investment in the world's poorest regions in ways that bring a†ordable products and services to market and promote job growth and local invest- ment. Designed to fulfill the same requirements as other master's programs, the curriculum will "instill in students the attitude, sense of purpose, and skills to build 'bottom of the pyramid' busi- nesses," according to the project's website. Individuals from business schools and orga- nizations from around the world already have signed on to the Business Schools for Impact Initiative. The ultimate goal for the initiative, say organizers, is to build the capacity of business schools in low-income countries and design business programs that help students develop entrepreneurial and managerial skills. The United Nations is o†ering a series of workshops to introduce business educators and students to the goals of its Initiative. The next workshop will be held on May 17 to 20 in Johan- nesburg, South Africa. The next two workshops are planned in Valparaiso, Chile, in September; and in Manila, Philippines, in November. Their dates are yet to be determined. For information, visit business- schools-for-impact.org. "WE FOCUS ON IMPACT IN EVERYTHING WE DO." —AJIT RANGNEKAR, DEAN INDIAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS