GAIA, the School of Ecological and Social Transitions

With the support of Audencia, the Gaïa School offers a radical approach to accelerate the ecological and social transition for individuals, organizations and society.

Gaïa School

Supporting the virtuous transition of organizations

With the support of Audencia, the Gaïa School offers a radical approach aimed at accelerating the ecological and social transition for individuals, organizations and society.

Gaïa School

Supporting the virtuous transition of organizations

As part of its strategic plan, Audencia has given itself a new raison d'être: that of supporting the virtuous transition of organizations. 

However, the seriousness of problems such as global warming, the collapse of biodiversity and growing inequalities places us in a situation of urgency. This compels us to accelerate change and adopt a form of radicalism to deal with it.

Welcoming all those with a desire for change

This is the purpose of Gaïa, the first School of Ecological and Social Transition backed by a Business School.

To meet the challenges we face, Gaïa:

  • Offers specialized courses to students in Audencia's initial training programs and
  • Assists individuals and organizations in reinventing the way they produce, work, consume, and live together

Welcoming all those with a desire for change

Gaïa will welcome all those who have the desire to change, to evolve, to transform themselves, as well as those who wish to transform their organization and perhaps even the French economy and society as a whole. We can only succeed in this endeavor with the most willing participants. Those who want to create a new future today.

Given the challenges we face, Gaïa's goal is to train the professionals and leaders of the transition: individuals who make the choice to influence our collective future by reinventing the way we produce, work, consume and live together.

Join the Gaïa adventure if you believe that we must develop new business models, products and services that are necessarily sustainable and inclusive!

To achieve its ambitions

Gaïa is committed to creating new kinds of educational experiences where everyone learns to think systematically, develop collaborative strategies, and measure the impact they or their organization is having through their actions.

Two examples of pedagogical innovations offered at Gaïa:

  • Permanagement: students have the opportunity to take a management course on a permaculture site 20 km from Nantes. Aim: to be inspired by the interdependence and symbiosis of the living world to learn a management style that puts harmony before performance
  • Climate intelligence: course in partnership with climatologists and the EY consulting group (currently being finalized): 12h intensive to understand what the IPCC scenarios correspond to (+1,°C, +2°C and more) and 12h with a consulting firm to think about business models for companies. Real life case studies.

Since the beginning of the 2022 school year

For companies,

Gaïa proposes a positive energy project to:

  • Promote environmental and social transition
  • Train for emerging and sustainable professions
  • Contribute to the inclusive development of territories
  • Develop governance models based on shared value

More than a training

Since the beginning of the 2022 school year

Students at the Audencia "Grande École" have the option of joining the M1 Gaïa master's program. It lasts one semester and is exclusively dedicated to the management of the environmental and social transition. This course will enable students to develop and apply this culture of impact by combining knowledge from management, environmental sciences (biodiversity, climate...), human sciences (inclusion, diversity...) and technological sciences (energy, biomimicry...).

Students in our future MSc programs also have the opportunity to learn about Gaïa, by focusing on transition issues specific to the business sectors in which they choose to specialize in. Courses dedicated to the electrification of the automotive fleet, sustainable tourism or inclusive event management follow this logic. 

Eventually, all of Audencia's courses will include an itinerary within Gaïa.