This book is the outcome of a joint experiment—an experimental exercise in university–industry relationship building between our institutions: BMW and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU). To be sure, our institutions have always had good and trusting relationships between individual experts—long before our time in leadership roles. People at BMW and FAU have been involved in joint research projects, joint student mentoring, guest lectures, expert advice, talent exchanges, and more. In fact, we admire these multifac-eted forms of collaboration based on individual expertise or serendipity. But we felt there could and should be more.Could we somehow extend our collaborative relationships to jointly address aspects of one of the dominant challenges of our time, namely the sustainable transformation of organisations? How could we make this happen? Could we create an inspiring and inclusive journey for many? We wanted to start small but with a sustainable perspective. We wanted to start informally but with measurable results. We wanted to use pragmatic approaches with scientific rigour and practical relevance. Above all, however, we wanted to invite other to join us on our journey on ‘The Road to Net Zero’.1 The time to do so is now. So feel free to aim even higher: Be inspired. We all truly enjoyed the discussions, had them recorded, and initially pub-lished some short excerpts on the BMW website.2 The feedback motivated us to go one step further. We decided to publish them, with some additional context, to inspire others to join our journey and do better, dig deeper, engage and elaborate further.This book does exactly that. It will not pave the Road to Net Zero. Instead, it will show you that your contributions, deep conversations, collaborative work, and commitment are needed to take the necessary steps. This book is not written as a blueprint solution to the challenge of our time (in fact, you may feel that it often only scratches the surface), but it aims to outline a Road to Net Zero and create collective engagement. This book is not a political statement from BMW or FAU. It is what it is: a collection of edited expert conversations, framed by some foundational thoughts and complemented by our ideas about the next steps. It can serve as a primer for shaping industry–university relationships, starting with matchmaking (or should we say ‘speed dating’) of experts from both worlds—academia and industry—driven by a common mission and committed to bridging their individual spheres of knowledge. Conversations can help build trusting relationships; they are the gateway to deeper discussions, constructive mutual criticism, promising proj-ects, and joint steps that pave the Road to Net Zero.