KTH Global Development Hub (KTH GDH) was formed in 2017 with the mission to develop and implement new education models and approaches addressing global sustainable development as expressed in the UN 2030 Agenda. KTH GDH is based on the idea that education activities can have a two-fold impact of developing students' innovation competence, while also driving innovation through the solutions being developed by students. A challenge-driven educational concept developed by KTH GDH, CDEsupGDH/sup, therefore contains a purposely designed innovation management system (IMS). Challenge definitions, stakeholder engagement and leadership endorsement are key aspects of this IMS, which is based on interventions designed to develop consensus around the viability and relevance of challenges, and commitment to participate in the innovation process. KTH GDH works in partnership with four African universities. The IMS has a local component at each university and a global component, which creates a global IMS. The implementation has thus far focused on the capacity to implement the Challenge-Driven Education (CDE) model and IMS. This includes building a capacity to create and sustain innovation processes and developing networks and collaborations in local innovation ecosystems, something that offers specific challenges. We discuss how existing IMS frameworks can be developed to better support global sustainable innovation.