21st Annual Conference
Novel Approaches to Innovation June 21, 2012, 8:45 am to 4:45 pm
Innovation has come to be recognized as the principal engine driving business and national growth. As stated in Business Week, “Economists and business leaders across the political spectrum are slowly coming to an agreement: Innovation is the best — and maybe the only — way the U.S. can get out of its economic hole.”
Responding to this imperative, organizations are introducing novel techniques that are revolutionizing the way innovation is occurring. Many of the creative new approaches are being spurred by the connectivity and accessibility opportunities brought about by the Web. Some of the new methods are proving to be especially valuable. Leading companies are embracing open collaboration, internally and in the marketplace. They are learning to successfully innovate outside their traditional core areas. They are introducing new methodologies to detect trends earlier. They are adopting the comprehensive approach of design thinking, resulting in many important new products and services by focusing primarily on the experience of the customer.
The 2012 HSATM conference will examine creative new techniques that leading organizations are adopting to transform their approach to innovation, compressing timeframes and enriching outcomes. Attendees will come away with guidance on new tools their organizations can use to accelerate innovation. The Conference will appeal to people working in R&D, marketing, business development, operations, project management, customer service, technology — in short, to everyone concerned with creating value through the implementation of new knowledge and ideas.
Speaker Abstracts and Bios
INNOVATIONS ON THE THEME OF INNOVATION Innovations on the Theme of Innovation Anthony J. Le Storti, President, IDEATECTS ® Inc., Senior Associate, Howe School Alliance for Technology Management Innovation is innovating. We are seeing novel ideas and methods being generated to revolutionize the processes and methods of innovation per se. Among contemporary approaches, some have emerged as especially noteworthy. Prompted by the very comprehensive approach of design thinking, many important new products and services focus primarily on the experience of the customer. The Web is producing several new avenues of innovation as venture capitalization is going online, and we may be seeing the return of the “lone inventor.” Additionally, the world population of inventors seems to have risen dramatically; and, even if you are not one, many may live in your neighborhood.
A nt hony J. Le Storti is President of IDEATECTS® Inc., a firm specializing in innovation, leadership, and the dynamics of human systems, and is a Senior Associate of the Howe School Alliance for Technology Management. His work focuses especially on problem solving, decision-making, and strategic thinking. He founded and directed the Center for Creative Studies at Gwynedd-Mercy College and has taught graduate courses at La Salle, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania. He has published numerous articles on a range of topics including invention/discovery, innovation, conflict resolution, and decision-making.
Tony is a Colleague of the Creative Education Foundation and a recipient of the American Creativity Association’s Champion of Creativity Award. A former special operations officer decorated for his combat command skills, he transformed the knowledge gained from his military experience into a powerful book, When You’re Asked to Do the Impossible , setting out the principles and methods of U.S. Army Rangers for use by civilian teams and organizations operating under extremely challenging circumstances.
Tony holds degrees from La Salle and Temple and Executive Certificates in strategy & innovation and management & leadership from MIT. He can be reached at ajls@ideatects.com
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INNOVATING IN THE SOCIAL ENTERPRISE: NEW WAYS TO MAKE EVERYONE AN INNOVATOR Mary M. Keough, Manager, CIO Lab Innovation Communities, IBM Ryan J. Hutton, Program Manager Technology Adoption Program, CIO Lab, IBM
We collaborate openly, in the marketplace and inside IBM, to work toward smarter solutions to today's problems. This external transformation has been highly visible, but what's just as, if not more, interesting is the internal transformation of IBM to a place where employees are encouraged to innovate collaboratively for themselves, for IBM and for our clients.
In the CIO Lab, the innovation arm of the CIO, we run two programs that promote collaborative innovation at IBM: the Technology Adoption Program and Innovation Hubs. These community-driven programs promote idea sharing and incubation, enabling employees to use their collective intelligence to solve problems for IBM and the world. They encourage collaboration and competition to vet out the best projects, letting community success (or failure) demonstrate business value and influence decision makers.
These programs have innovated how we innovate inside IBM. They support an innovative culture and encourage every IBMer to take part. This new model of innovation aligns with IBM's external collaboration, contributing to the open-source community, running programs to support entrepreneurs, and running “Jams” with clients to innovate in ways that matter to IBM and the world.
Mary M. Keough is Manager, CIO Lab Innovation Communities at IBM, responsible for the Technology Adoption program (TAP) and IBM's Innovation Hubs. These programs offer
In her 30 year career with IBM, Mary has over 10 years’ experience in corporate innovation and a broad background of technical and management experience in I/T. She began her career as a programmer and has held numerous technical and management positions in the IBM Software Group, IBM Global Services, IBM CHQ and the Internet Division. She was a consultant for IBM Jams Collaborative Innovation offerings, and manager of the Webahead team responsible for exploring and applying emerging Internet technologies.
Outside of work, Mary enjoys tennis, skiing and traveling. Mary has an MS in Computer Science from Pace University and a BS in Mathematics from Le Moyne College. She can be reached at maryk@us.ibm.com
Ryan J. Hutton is Program Manager, Technology Adoption Program for the CIO Lab at IBM. TAP is an internal innovation program where employee innovators find a community, refine their projects with early adopters and prove their business value to decision makers. TAP has provided thousands of innovators with promotion, feedback and hosting, while bringing over 2,000 prototypes apps to IBMers around-the-globe. Under his guidance, TAP has grown by almost 50% in adoption and membership. Last year, TAP deployed a new social web catalog that combines social buzz, recommendations, and videos, which he creates. Currently, Ryan is focused on streamlining the TAP processes around application management and to formalize innovator recognition while continuing to make it easier to create, consume, and celebrate innovation at IBM.
Ryan has pursued his passion for photography for several years and his work has been featured in several publications. Ryan enjoys traveling and writing, and plays electric guitar and bass. He has a BA in Communication from Marist College and lives in Poughkeepsie, NY. Ryan can be reached at rjhutton@us.ibm.com
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SUCCESS STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION OUTSIDE THE CORE Peter Koen, Associate Professor, Howe School of Technology Management, Stevens Institute of Technology
Large firms have demonstrated their ability to succeed in breakthrough innovations, but have difficulty succeeding in business-model innovations outside their core areas. For example, Sony changed the way people listen to music with their Walkman and Discman portable music players, but they allowed Apple to take over the MP3 market with the iTunes business model. Microsoft made a computer in every home a reality, but ceded the search market to the Google search engine business model. Why does this pattern occur again and again? Our research over the last two years has studied successful and unsuccessful business model innovations outside the core in large companies. We will discuss our findings and present strategies that can promote success.
Peter Koen is an Associate Professor in the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology. He is also currently the director of the www.frontendinnovation.com ). Current consortium members include Corning, Ethicon (a division of Johnson and Johnson), ExxonMobil, P&G and WL Gore.
Peter has extensively published articles on the front end of innovation and founded the popular practitioner front end conference, which is now in its 10th year in the US and 5th year in Europe. He is the inventor and founder of ID8 Systems (www.id8systems.com ), a Stevens start-up. Peter holds BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from NYU and an MS and PhD in biomedical engineering from Drexel University. He can be reached at Peter.Koen@stevens.edu
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THE NEW NOW IN INNOVATION: INTERPRETING SOCIO-CULTURAL EVENTS AND FORECASTING TRENDS TO CREATE THE FUTURE Mikel Cirkus, Global Director, Conceptual Design Group, Firmenich
Those who understand trends have the ability to influence what actually happens – seeing relationships that lead to new ideas, making connections of things seemingly unrelated, perceiving smart re-combinations. Such opportunities are everywhere we look in the mash-up culture we live in today. Organizations need to continue to question existing reality and use lateral thinking to connect the dots to achieve greater innovation.
At Firmenich, a world leader in flavors and fragrances, innovation is regarded as a key differentiator. We have developed and are employing a corporate and strategic tool -- Trenz® -- for identifying and interpreting socio-cultural events and forecasting the next important industry and consumer trends. There is an aspect of the future that is predictable. We find that combining these trends with on-going analysis of competitive environments stimulates thinking in additional innovative dimensions, and increases the success rate of new product innovation by helping people embrace, adapt and create changes that add value.
This presentation describes this new methodology and how it helps us to focus on the long-term – thinking waaay ahead. Trenz® helps us to observe and study people and places to really understand their needs and values. We recognize that businesses can’t continue to look for new ideas only in their own backyards. They need to explore outside their comfort zones. Trenz® has helped to expose our people and our customers to new sources of inspiration, showing them how to find ‘ah-ha moments’ by connecting the dots and then creating the products that their consumers don’t even know they need…yet.
Mikel_color copy.jpg Mikel Cirkus is Global Director of the Conceptual Design Group of FIRMENICH Flavors. Mikel joined Firmenich, a world leader in flavors and fragrances, in 2000 as the Creative Director for Perfumery Creative Marketing. Today, that role has expanded to a global position in the newly formed Conceptual Design Group for the Flavors Division.
As a founding member of the global Trenz® team, Mikel identifies key industry and consumer trends, combines them with on-going analysis of competitive environments, and creates a means to encourage and enable the Clients to embrace, adapt and even create changes that have added value to their brands, while also strengthening their relationship and increasing sales with Firmenich.
Mikel holds a BFA degree from the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA. He can be reached at Mikel.CIRKUS@firmenich.com
Please email Sharen.Glennon@stevens.edu for a paper copy of this presentation
Instructions for participation from a remote location
You can participate in this meeting from a remote location. You will be able to hear the presenter, see the slides, hear questions and comments from both the on-site and remote Roundtable participants, and ask questions and take part in the discussion. Virtual participation will not provide the full benefits of actual attendance, so we encourage you to attend in person if possible. For those for whom this is impractical, however, virtual participation is a worthwhile alternative.
We use the Wimba Classroom software. Please run the Setup Wizard a few days prior to the live meeting to configure the computer you will use. Click on the link http://stevenslive.wimba.com/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=wms and follow the prompts. Once you have downloaded the software you can log in to the event at http://stevenslive.wimba.com/launcher.cgi?room=HSATM Enter your full name in the participant login box.
If you experience issues with the setup wizard or have trouble accessing the live event, please contact Wimba support at 866-350-4978 . They are available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
Phone access is available in case you don’t have speakers/microphone on your computer, or the volume is too low using the computer’s devices. Also, if you are away from internet access, you can dial in to hear the audio portion of the session.
