About

A new summit for the good business movement

Our world is in a state of extraordinary flux where political, social and cultural change are happening at a faster rate than at any other time in history. The Good Business Festival is an event capturing the global zeitgeist – it’s exactly what populations are demanding, as more and more people get switched on to the idea of conscious capitalism and purposeful business.

Over the course of two acts in October and March, the smartest minds from around the world will join us to think big, galvanise our ambition and drive positive change. With compelling, thought provoking and unexpected programming, the festival will prove itself to be globally relevant and culturally essential. Alongside core events, our fringe, arts and social programming will ensure a true festival environment with plenty of opportunities to socialise and explore the city region.

What you'll learn

We're bringing together the smartest minds from across the world.

Learn how purpose is powerful – and how it can power your business.

Learn where business is going from the people who will get it there.

Learn what you need to do and why you need to do it now.

Learn how to convince your shareholders, employers, employees or investors that a purpose-oriented business model is the right move – the only logical move.

Learn how to be one step ahead.

Learn what good business means to you, and what it could mean for the world.

Who will be there

The festival will be a platform where everyone can learn from each other.

That’s a big question, with a very lengthy answer. Here’s a snapshot:

Household names and rising stars in business and culture. Titans of industry. Activists. Academics, educators, writers, creatives and contrarians. Legislators, students, philosophers, scientists and startups. Radical thinkers, provocateurs, thought leaders and pioneers.

Your next investor, your next employee, your next collaborator.

People who know more than you about important things. People who want to learn from your expertise or experience.

People who agree with you and people who don’t.

So who will be there? Anyone who’s interested in good business, whatever they do and whoever they are.

Why you should come

This is a business festival delivered by creatives.

The Good Business Festival is about connecting business to the wider world – bringing perspectives and experiences from the arts, culture and academia into business learning.

This isn’t a conference. It’s a multi-day, multi-venue, colourful, imaginative and disruptive shiny new festival with big-hitting topics at its core and a packed programme of fringe and social events too*. We believe that the relationship between business and society – the way that global economics affects our everyday lives – needs to be talked about in a more accessible and engaging way. So we’re going to get as many voices as possible involved in the debate about good business, and have a really good time whilst we’re at it.

Why Liverpool City Region?

Why wouldn’t we do this in Liverpool? It’s a brilliant UK city with a worldwide reputation as a destination for culture, sport and music. More new businesses start-up in the City Region than almost any other equivalent area of the country, and it’s at the forefront of the ‘tech for good’ movement. Liverpool City Region is vibrant, full of opportunities, future-facing and not afraid to speak its mind – which makes it the perfect host for The Good Business Festival.

Who are we?

The festival is a partnership between Culture Liverpool and HemingwayDesign – we’re a team that knows business and loves culture.

Between the team we’ve founded and run dozens of festivals. We have successful businesses. We are instigators, creators, innovators, thinkers and do-ers, and have been leaders in sustainable and socially-minded business practice since before ‘ESG’ was a term.

We know that the world needs this festival, and now. We couldn’t find anything quite like it that was truly serious about purposeful business and economics, but also serious about culture and having fun at the same time, so we created The Good Business Festival.

We aim to be a global destination for industry leaders in the way that SXSW is for the entertainment industry . We aim to be an impactful summit for people with knowledge and power and ideas like Davos, but without the hypocrisy. Imagine if Boiler Room did TED Talks – that’s us.

THEMES & TOPICS

What do you want to learn about?

The Good Business Festival programming aims to create space for a huge variety of topics; everything from the big issues facing global societies to the niggling questions that sit at the back of our minds when we go to work every day.

We recognise that there’s huge crossover in the topics covered at each of our sessions and events, so rather than running focused content streams like you may have seen before, every talk, workshop, podcast, debate, activity or exhibition will be tagged with the key topics that it covers.

As a festival-goer, you can choose to explore the topics that interest you or dive into a little bit of everything.

Economics
Consumer Trends
Ethics
Health & Life Sciences
Sport
Big Thinking
Planet
Place & Society
Retail
Future

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The Good Business Festival is passionately non-exclusive. It’s not about what you do or who you know. It’s not about agreeing on everything all of the time. It’s about learning, sharing knowledge and experience and wanting to be a part of the global good business movement.

Join the movement