Header vie école

26 April 2022

The Sulitest international initiative gains momentum, raising €1.5 million to launch the first international certificate for assessing Sustainable Development knowledge

SD & CSR Initial Education

The world urgently needs a paradigm shift towards sustainability, which is why the Sulitest initiative was launched in 2014 to enable higher education institutions, companies and other organisations to train future changemakers, using online tools aimed at building a sustainable world.

Following the success of its initial ‘Awareness Test’ designed to raise awareness and promote sustainable development, the Sulitest association has expanded its activities with the creation of Sulitest Impact, a social business, and has raised a substantial €1.5 million of capital to further develop the initiative and exploit its potential. Sulitest will be launching the first international certificate setting the standard for the dissemination of knowledge in the field of sustainable development.

Over the past 8 years, the international Sulitest initiative has been supporting higher education institutions, companies and organisations in addressing the challenges and opportunities of sustainable development. Its flagship tool, the Sulitest ‘Awareness Test’, is now a recognised test that has been taken by more than 230,000 people worldwide. In view of the social and environmental complex challenges of the 21st century, one of the major tasks of education is to empower citizens to be able to initiate change, make informed decisions, and collectively build a sustainable future.

Accelerating the initiative

In 2021, the Sulitest association and its two co-founders created a social business Sulitest Impact, whose mission is to amplify the impact of the Sulitest initiative. In January 2022, six French public and private higher education institutions (CY Cergy Paris University, ESSEC, EM Normandie Business School, Excelia, KEDGE Business School, Paris-Saclay University), together with several Business Angels, contributed to Sulitest’s first investment campaign, which successfully raised €1.5 million.

Since the very beginning of this project, we have been fortunate to be supported by a large community of higher education institutions. KEDGE Business School and its Business Nursery have been with us from the outset, as have other academic and corporate partners who have enabled Sulitest to develop the tools it currently offers. With the capital injection of these 6 academic partners and our business angels, a new chapter is being written

explains Jean-Christophe Carteron President of Sulitest Impact

The new social business is tasked with the design, editing, development and management of all the tools, as well as with the business development. It plays a support role in coordinating user communities, and is responsible for hosting all content for both the association and the SAS itself. Furthermore, it carries out R&D on the impact of the use of Sulitest tools on people and organisations. As concerns the association, which is also a shareholder in the social business, it is responsible for defining the direction. Its role includes lobbying, reporting and liaising with the UN, as well as contributing tools for the common good.  The association will ultimately have a role in strengthening capacity, and supporting education in both sustainable development and research.

We are extremely grateful to these organisations for coming together to support the development of online tools for the common good. Together with the Sulitest ecosystem, they will contribute to the development of a certificate that will allow every institution, whether academic or corporate, public or private, big or small, to assess and demonstrate how it embraces sustainability knowledge and to set an ambitious standard

explains Aurélien Décamps Managing Director of Sulitest Impact

Strengthening impact with the first international online certificate in sustainable development as a driver of systemic change 

Sulitest has committed to reinforcing its impact by setting the standard for universities and other organisations. During 2022, it will launch the first robust, accessible, easy-to-implement, reliable and globally comparable online certificate for assessing sustainable development knowledge. This standard will act as a lever to ensure that understanding sustainable development is not a privilege reserved for students enrolled in/graduated from specialised courses or for activists involved in specific causes, but rather a common language for all people, regardless of their chosen academic background.

It will be a valuable asset for their employability and their career development.  It will also enable institutional users to easily extract data and to generate indicators and evidence, which can be used not only to measure, monitor and improve the dissemination of this common language, but for rankings, accreditations, recruitment, etc.

Our ambition is to leverage our impact on the understanding of sustainable development by implementing our awareness test on a major scale, aiming for 1 million tests per year worldwide and reaching a target of 500,000 certificates awarded over five years. Beyond mere figures, our main reason for developing this project is the considerable impact that people themselves can make when they embrace sustainable development highlight the two founders.

Harnessing the strength of collaboration for a sustainable future

Sulitest develops tools in partnership with its users for its users. Everyone is invited to be part of this initiative and to benefit from the existing tools (the Awareness Test, the Quiz and the Looping) as well as the future certificate, so that sustainable development becomes mainstream.

Solène HEURTEBIS

Solène HEURTEBIS

Chief Strategy Officer - Director of the Cabinet of the General Management