Keynotes and track talks by 30 corporate speakers from different industries and leading academic experts
Presentations are short and mostly take place in tracks. This enables attendees to stay focused on their key interests and challenges. Each day includes more time for interaction than presentation in order to ensure high levels of energy and exchange.
SVP & Chief Design Officer
PepsiCo
Mauro Porcini is PepsiCo's first ever Chief Design Officer. He joined the food & beverage corporation in 2012 and in said role he is infusing design thinking into PepsiCo’s culture and is leading a new approach to innovation by design that impacts the company’s product platforms and brands, which include Pepsi, Lay’s, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Sodastream, Doritos, Lifewtr, Bubly, Aquafina, Cheetos, Quaker, 7Up, Mirinda, amongst many others. His focus extends from physical to virtual expressions of the brands, including product, packaging, events, advertising, fashion and art collaborations, retail activation, architecture, and digital media. He leads teams based in New York City, Purchase, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, Miami, London, Dublin, Moscow, Il Cairo, New Delhi, Shanghai, Bangkok, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Cape Town.
Mauro Porcini will talk about how to design and create an organizational culture that enables a human-centric approach to innovation. He draws on his experience from PepsiCo and 3M to share how to overcome resistance to change, bridge silos, and connect communities with a common language, approach, and focus.
Director of Early Stage Innovations and Partnerships
NASA
Ms. Gustetic is a senior executive who architects innovation systems for impact.
Currently she is the Director of Early Stage Innovations and Partnerships for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. In this role she leads a portfolio of technology programs that engages diverse sources, creativity and innovation across the country, awarding more than $300M in funding annually through prize competitions, SBIR/STTR, research grants , internal innovation team projects, advanced concepts studies, and technology transfer. She is also a founding co-chair of the Partnership for Public Service's Innovation Council (2018-today).
Previously she has served in various program executive roles at NASA HQ, as the Assistant Director for Open Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and throughout her career has led numerous communities focused on incentive prizes, citizen science, design thinking and the maker movement.
Jenn Gustetic will talk about how NASA selects ideas and collaborates with the ecosystem to develop new technologies for NASA’s portfolio. She will explain how the organization encourages collaboration, co-invests to develop ideas from lab to market, and acts as the hub-and-spoke of the ecosystem. Jenn will also discuss NASA’s journey to break silos and work horizontally across programs.
SVP Chief Innovation Officer
KONE
Amy Chen is SVP – Chief Innovation Officer at KONE. With the mission to improve the flow of urban life, she leads the company’s customer-centric innovation unit, focusing on consistently bringing new solutions to the market. Prior to joining KONE, Amy has extensive experience in corporate and startup innovations, as founder of Car2Share and CEO of car2go China with Daimler, COO of Didi and Li Auto’s mobility EV joint venture, and as strategy head for Volkswagen China’s software and digital services arm.
Amy’s other professional experience includes Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company in Germany, while she started her career with Motorola in the US. She holds an MBA from RSM Erasmus University in the Netherlands, and a BA in International Finance from Renmin University of China.
Corporate innovations often have a rocky road, particularly those with a strong technology focus. Having previously worked at Daimler and Volkswagen, and currently Chief Innovation Officer at People Flow company KONE, Amy Chen will share her insights and experiences on how to drive customer-focused innovation and organize for it in a global operating environment.
You will hear about the following topics:
Chief Innovability® Officer
Enel
Ernesto Ciorra became the Enel Group’s Chief Innovability (Innovation and Sustainability) Officer in September 2014. He began his career as an Associate with the consultancy firm Busacca & Associati, supporting leading Italian and foreign telecoms companies in a number of innovative projects. In 2003, he founded Ars et Inventio, a consultancy specialising in innovation and creativity, which he headed until taking up his current position. Ars et Inventio has worked with leading companies in Italy and abroad on the conception and launch of innovations that have gone on to achieve worldwide success.
Ernesto Ciorra has lectured in Innovation Management in Italian and Spanish Universities and Business Schools. He was Scientific Coordinator for the Master’s in Innovation Management at the Il Sole24Ore Business School and is a member of the advisory board for the Master’s in Strategic Innovation at Venice’s Ca' Foscari University. He is director of the Advanced Innovation Management Programme at the Istituto de Empresa in Madrid. He is also the author of three collections of poetry and a play that has been staged in several Italian theatres.
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Chief Technology Officer
Johnson Matthey
Maurits van Tol is Chief Technology Officer at Johnson Matthey, a global leader in science that enables a cleaner and healthier world. With over 200 years of sustained commitment to innovation and technological breakthroughs, we improve the performance, function and safety of our customers’ products. Our science has a global impact in areas such as low emission transport, pharmaceuticals, chemical processing and making the most efficient use of the planet’s natural resources.
Before joining Johnson Matthey, Maurits was Senior Vice President Innovation and Technology at Borealis. Maurits was responsible for shaping the Circular Economy business for Borealis as well as being part of the company’s management board responsible for their Plastics business. Maurits was a senior leader with Borealis since 2012. He spent 19 years with Royal DSM in a wide variety of R&D, Innovation and Business Management roles.
Maurits has a PhD in Catalysis and an MSc in Physical Chemistry and Catalysis, both from Leiden University, Netherlands. Parts of his studies were also performed at the University of East Anglia, and UC Berkeley. He shares our passion for science having achieved 18 patents and 30 publications and he sits on a number of Advisory Boards for Technology across the Chemicals Sector.
Maurits van Tol will talk about how Johnson Matthey is working to bring about a vision of AI and ML, designing their own experiments and learning from them. He will share the approach taken to delivering on the vision, and he will share insights from the journey so far.
Associate Professor of Management Practice, Marketing and Entrepreneurship
London Business School
John Mullins is an Associate Professor of Management Practice at the London Business School. He has published five books, dozens of cases and more than 50 articles in a variety of outlets, including Harvard Business Review, the MIT Sloan Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal. He is a sought-after speaker and educator for audiences in entrepreneurship and innovation.
John’s first trade book, The New Business Road Test: What Entrepreneurs and Executives Should Do Before Launching a Lean Start-Up, has become the definitive work on the assessment and shaping of entrepreneurial opportunities and is widely employed in universities worldwide.
His second book, the critically acclaimed Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model, co-authored with Randy Komisar, a partner at the esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, was named to “Best Books of 2009” lists by BusinessWeek and INC Magazine.
John’s third book, The Customer-Funded Business: Start, Finance or Grow Your Company with Your Customers’ Cash, was named one of five “not-to-be-missed books” for 2014 by Fortune magazine. It challenges the commonly held assumption that among an innovator’s first and most important tasks is that of raising capital. Its material provides the foundation for John’s widely viewed online course on Coursera.
John’s forthcoming book, Counter-Conventional: How the Six Break-the-Rules Mindsets of Entrepreneurs Can Help Anyone Change the World, enables practitioners to apply these entrepreneurial mindsets to their innovation challenges.
John has done executive education on five continents for a variety of organizations both large and small and has served on the boards of fast-growing companies in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, and Asia.
In his latest book, Break the Rules!, John Mullins draws on 20 years of field research to build a compelling argument that successful entrepreneurs exhibit one or more of six mindsets that allow them to challenge assumptions, overcome obstacles, mitigate risk and, sometimes, change the world. Surprisingly, however, these mindsets run counter to the conventional wisdom that’s typically found in large and well-established companies. They fly in the face of what’s taught in business schools about strategy, core competencies, target marketing, financing and more.
John’s keynote will bring to life the six counter-conventional mindsets that enable iconic entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Elon Musk and others to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. Innovators of every kind and stripe owe it to themselves to understand, master, and embrace these winning mindsets.
Every business these days wants its people to be more “entrepreneurial,” it seems. Rarely, however, do their leaders know exactly what they mean. Do they want more out-of-the-box thinking? Probably. More innovation? For sure. Do they want more risk? Not so much!
This Lab, based on John’s forthcoming book, Counter-Conventional, will bring to life the six break-the-rules mindsets of entrepreneurs that can help anyone to challenge assumptions, off-load risk, and overcome obstacles that stand in their way to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves. Surprisingly, perhaps, these mindsets run counter to the conventional wisdom that’s typically found in large and well-established companies. They fly in the face of what’s taught in business schools about strategy, core competencies, target marketing, financing and more.
Working in small breakout groups, Lab participants will:
Chief Marketing & Digital Growth Officer, Beauty Care
Henkel
In his current role as CMO, Rik Strubel is responsible for global marketing activities, innovation, digital transformation and the direct-to-consumer business of 100+ Henkel Beauty Care brands.
Before moving to Henkel, Mr. Strubel worked at Unilever for 17 years. He held various management positions in the USA, Italy, UK and Germany. Most recently he steered the successful repositioning of one of the world's largest male grooming brands AXE as Global Vice President Axe/Lynx.
In addition to 20 years of diverse marketing experience in large corporations, Mr. Strubel has co-founded a fashion brand and held the co-CEO position at a Beauty Holding company.
Rik Strubel is a marketing leader with over 15 years of experience in growing brands with purpose. He started with Unilever’s Dove to later lead the Axe brand globally, preceding his current role at Henkel. Rik will share his experience and learnings on growing brands with purpose:
Rik Strubel will talk about the role of leadership in driving digital transformation. He will discuss common pitfalls in driving the transformation and how to overcome them. Rik will share learnings on:
SVP Material Physics, Analytics & Formulation
BASF
Carla Seidel is a Senior Vice President at BASF and leads the department Analytical & Material Science. She is a member of the board of the German Chemical Society GDCh and of the strategic advisory board on energy topics for the Helmholtz Society. Carla has served in a variety of leadership roles in BASF, including competitive intelligence & strategic planning, heading the personal care ingredients business in Asia Pacific, leading the growth field energy for BASF New Business and as Vice President Acids & Specialties Europe. She had joined BASF as a lab team leader in Central Analytics, Process Research & Chemical Engineering, in 1996, after completing her PhD in analytical chemistry at the University of Hannover, where she had studied chemistry.
Carla Seidel will talk about how BASF drives sustainability for materials for the circular economy. She will share the approach taken, from creating the framework to building scenarios to translating these into action. Carla will also discuss how the organization is working internally and with partners to deliver on targets.
VP, Digital Transformation (formerly)
Nike
Shahab has spent his professional career at the intersection of sport and healthcare supporting companies through change and transformation. Currently, Shahab leads Product and Design for Dick’s Sporting Goods, the largest sports retailer in the United States. Prior, he spent a decade at Nike in various roles across the innovation spectrum working across brand, product, digital and global technology. His last role at Nike was leading the Digital Transformation of the company, as Nike moved towards a digital first company with a greater focus on direct consumer engagement. Previous to Nike, Shahab held multiple roles within healthcare industries across business development and strategy roles.
Shahab Salemy led a portfolio of programs across Nike driving the digital transformation of the organization. He will detail Nike’s digital transformation journey, how the organization has evolved its approach and how it organizes for it, embeds digital into the business, builds digital capabilities and rapidly accelerates the transformation. Shahab will explain the lessons learned in the journey, as well as how the organization leverages AI and data, and how it collaborates with startups.
SVP Digital Enterprise Services
BSH
Dr. Thomas Salditt is heading the Digital Business Enabling Department at BSH Home Appliances Group. In his position he is driving two major topics globally: analytics (Touchpoints Analytics like Websites, Apps, CRM // IOT // Advanced Analytics & Data Science). He is part of the Global Digital Transition team of BSH, Europe’s leading producer of white goods and one of the globally leading players in this sector. Prior to joining BSH Dr. Salditt worked for ProSiebenSat1 Media SE, Zooplus AG and A.T. Kearney and looks back on more than 15 years of experience in Digital Business, Digital Transition, eCommerce and Retail.
Thomas Salditt will explain how BSH creates new value with connected devices and develops an ecosystem of services. He will discuss the company’s approach to creating value with AI and complex data. Thomas will also detail how the company organizes for digital innovation and AI, and he will share lessons learned.
Thomas Salditt will talk about BSH’s journey towards leveraging data for a 360° customer view. He will share insights on what it takes to become data driven as well as what worked and what didn’t. Thomas will also share the company’s approach to creating and visualizing consumer journeys, moving towards a multichannel approach, and lessons learned in rolling out and scaling.
– Leveraging data to create 360° customer views and visualizing consumer journeys:
– Lessons learned in multichannel sales: Moving towards more direct-to-consumer sales, accelerated by covid
– Becoming more data-driven – what works and what doesn’t
SVP Customer Experience & Design
Deutsche Telekom
The design has the power to transform obstacles into new business opportunities, because its essence is innovative. I have dedicated the last 20 years to innovation, first studying at the Politecnico di Milano and then working for major technology companies, which have chosen to change the market with innovative and beautiful products: Samsung Electronics, Whirlpool Corporation and now 3M, the temple of innovation, where not only we design products but solutions. From Milan, one of the world capitals of design, I’m leading the Design Europe Center, where a team of industrial designers, packaging designers, and strategic designers each day translates weak signals into business opportunities for our customers and for the corporation create sustainable business and innovation both B2B and B2C business.
I have previously held various roles of increasing responsibility, Design Manager at Samsung Electronics, Whirlpool Europe Design Centre where several projects have been awarded by ADI, Red Dot, ADA and IDSA. In 2014 I’ve been awarded with the “Merit and Talent “ Award by the Executive Management Association in Italy. Lecturer in Design Management and speaker at international conferences. Since 2012 Board member of the Alumni Association of Politecnico di Milano University.
Hands-on design management executive with a passion to build products that delight people, she has a Customer oriented mindset with the final objective to create value for her Company and the Clients through innovation strategies. Lead product vision, strategy, and building of next-generation of physical and digital products. She has experience in 4 Top Corporations of 3 Nationalities in 4 different Industries (Consumer Electronics, Telecommunications, Innovation Industry, Healthcare, Automotive, Advanced Materials B2B-B2C, Home Appliances): Deutsche Telekom AG, 3M, Samsung Electronics, Whirlpool Corporation-Kitchen Aid. Monica Dalla Riva has also extensive experience in innovation strategy, marketing, technology, and future vision (eg. Ecosystem design, AI, Data-driven design, consumer electronics design, marketing design strategies). Currently VP of Design and VP of Customer Experience at the biggest Telecommunications company in Europe, Deutsche Telekom AG. Forrester CX Pro (CX-1) certified professional. Monica Dalla Riva is the award-winning of the Deutsche Telekom Global “Lead to Win” Award 2020 and of the Woman Leader Award at the Executive Leadership Association, got featured in several prestigious design and business magazines, and her product designs received 20+ design awards in her career. With a vision to change the way businesses think, act, and operate, to innovate while becoming customer centric, she is world-renowned as one of the few Design Corporate Executives in innovation corporations. Monica works with Board Member and Innovation leaders and organisations in nearly every industry to help transform company culture into innovative and customer centric. Former Head of Design at the most innovative company 3M, for Europe. Former Board member of the Alumni Polimi Association, Politecnico Univertity of Milan. Former Design Manger at Samsung Electronics, and Samsung-Armani Alliance design leader Former Design Leader at Whirlpool Corporation and IKEA collaboration. Fast Track Management Program as global talent at Whirlpool. Lecturer of Industrial Design at the Politecnico di Milano University, SDA Bocconi Economic University and at IED European Institute of Design.
Monica Dalla Riva will talk about Deutsche Telekom’s approach to driving culture change and embedding customer experience in digital transformation. She will discuss the steps taken to empower people and make them eager to join the transformation.
SVP, Head of Disruptive R&T
Airbus
Grzegorz (Greg) is passionate about managing technological innovation from an idea to broad market adoption. His combination of technology, leadership and commercial expertise together with a truly global outlook, having worked across Europe, the USA and China, puts him in a solid position to drive international market success for high-tech innovations. As a Head of Disruptive R&T, he shapes Airbus's ability to be the global leader in innovation and future technologies across all Airbus divisions. He works very
closely with all businesses and divisions globally.
Grzegorz holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Silesian University of Technology, Poland and a Certificate in Global Management from INSEAD, The Business School for the World. He has also been awarded Guest Professorship at the Zhejiang University in China.
Grzegorz Ombach will talk about Airbus’ approach to building disruptive R&T capabilities. He will discuss how the organization is creating innovation vehicles to apply internal and external technologies to new and existing businesses. Grzegorz will also share how the company balances autonomy and integration, fosters the culture and mindsets for disruptive innovation, and collaborates with startups.
Executive Vice President Development & Technology
Tetra Pak
Laurence has been Executive Vice President for Development & Technology since November 2021. Prior to that he was Executive Vice President for Development & Engineering and a member of the former Global Leadership Team.
Laurence joined Tetra Pak in 2001 as Aseptic Technology Manager. He later held positions including Vice President Packaging Technologies and Vice President Carton Bottle & Gable Top Packaging Platform.
Laurence is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. He is British and has a PhD in fibre science and mechanics from the University of Maine and a master’s of science from the University of Wales.
Tetra Pak is leading a sustainability transformation within the packaging industry. This requires us to simultaneously develop and sometimes transform all parts of the value chain. In this presentation will discuss how our products are evolving and what is takes to achieve this. Key lessons learned will be presented.
Emeritus Professor of Marketing and Strategy
Imperial College London
George Yip is an expert on China innovation and strategy, having conducted research about China for over 20 years and served on the faculty of the top Chinese business school, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), from 2011 to 2016. Previous academic positions include Dean of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University; and at Harvard, UCLA, Cambridge Judge, and London Business School. Previous business positions include Vice President and Director of Research & Innovation at Capgemini Consulting, senior manager at Price Waterhouse (USA), manager at Unilever, and various boards. Author or co-author of Pioneers, Hidden Champions, Change Makers, and Underdogs: Lessons from China's Innovators (2019), China’s Next Strategic Advantage: From Imitation to Innovation (2016), Strategic Transformation (2013), Managing Global Customers (2007), Asian Advantage: Key Strategies for Winning in the Asia-Pacific Region (1998), and Total Global Strategy (1992 and 2012).
George Yip will talk about key success factors to successfully leverage global account management. Based on his research findings, he will discuss how companies can determine whether to use global account management, how to identify the right customers, and what approach to take.
While China has long had a reputation for imitation, Chinese companies are now starting to innovate. Well known Chinese innovators include Alibaba, Haier, Huawei and Tencent, but there are also thousands of smaller Chinese innovators, as yet unknown to the world.
This Lab will begin with a presentation on:
The Discussion portion of the Lab will focus on (1) identifying the threats to your company from Chinese innovation, and (2) how your company can innovate in China for both China and the world.
Vice President, 3M R&D Operations 3M Corporate Research Laboratories Europe, Middle East and Africa
3M
Camila Cruz Durlacher is a Chemist with masters in Polymer Science, obtained from prestigious Brazilian universities. She has been working for over 20 years at 3M and today holds the position of Vice President of R&D Operations for Europe, Middle East, and Africa.
In her experience with the company, she has worked in product development, intellectual property, quality and regulatory affairs, and has managed laboratories in Brazil, Argentina and USA, ranging from local to global responsibilities.
In 2019 Camila moved to Germany with her family, where she is currently leading the laboratories in the objective of driving efforts to strengthen and accelerate the development of new technologies, creating integrated solutions that meet the needs of the market and especially the customers.
Camila is also highly involved in initiatives dedicated to advancing diversity and inclusion in organizations, with a special interest in advancing women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
CEO Aliaxis Next
Aliaxis
Fredrik Östbye is a serial entrepreneur who after three successful exits and nine years in big corporates has set up a powerful platform to make societal impact through the muscles of a big corporate. He calls it an impact business builder.
He is passionate by connecting the power of entrepreneurs with the power of corporates.
Senior Vice President, Corporate Research & Development
P&G
Lee Ellen Drechsler’s career at Procter & Gamble has included technical leadership roles across Beauty Care, Baby Care and Corporate R&D, with responsibilities from upstream Disruptive Innovation to downstream Product Supply. Lee Ellen leads Corporate Transformative Platform Technology (TPT), Global Packaging, Process and Open Innovation Disciplines, and Glad JV organizations with a mission to continue building P&G’s long-held reputation as a world leader of growth driven by innovation. She is accelerating the way P&G delivers game-changing and sustainable products, packages, and services, leveraging early in-market learning as well as collaborations with strong academic and business partners.
Hansjörg Reick will lead a lab on how companies can partner around technology to create value for all sides. He will briefly introduce P&G’s partnership approach including how the company partners up for commercializing internal technology, which models exist for that, and how profit is split. Hansjörg will proceed to explain three vectors and their sub-elements that will be the focus of a world café style group discussion.
Lab participants will discuss the following vectors within dedicated discussion groups:
Senior Director Global Business Development
P&G
In Global Business Development, Hansjörg creates new business models and partnerships for strategic, global innovation and sustainability programs and leads the Startup Center of Expertise for Procter & Gamble in Europe.
Previously, he held various leadership positions in research, development and engineering of transformative consumer health and medical device products and services, particularly for the OralB brand’s electric toothbrush portfolio and the company's first smart/IoT devices. In Corporate R&D Connect+Develop, Hansjörg led European Open Innovation and Public Funding.
Hansjörg fosters a holistic, multidisciplinary and consumer-centric approach to innovation. He is a catalyst for agile transformation and introduced Scrum and Lean Startup to physical product development and engineering. Hansjörg holds more than 50 patents and is a Fellow of AIMBE, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Hansjörg Reick will lead a lab on how companies can partner around technology to create value for all sides. He will briefly introduce P&G’s partnership approach including how the company partners up for commercializing internal technology, which models exist for that, and how profit is split. Hansjörg will proceed to explain three vectors and their sub-elements that will be the focus of a world café style group discussion.
Lab participants will discuss the following vectors within dedicated discussion groups:
Innovation programs and organizations applying Lean and Agile principles and methods create faster and better innovation value and drive higher motivation and ownership of individuals and teams. Psychology and human behavior research underlines the foundational principles and provides valuable insights for a successful transformation of teams and entire organizations.
Head of Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives
Microsoft for Startups
Noga leads a team focused on building the organization’s relationships with startup-enabling organizations, ranging from investors and corporate programs, to accelerators and incubators. In previous roles, Noga led different areas of Microsoft’s startup cloud engagement strategy and execution world-wide. Prior to her work at Microsoft, Noga held various business management roles in mission driven startups, the consumer space and the non-profit industry.
Noga Tal spearheads Microsoft’s relationships with startups and other partners such as accelerators, incubators, and innovation hubs among others. She will talk about how the organization approaches startup collaboration to create real value for startups and drive corporate innovation. Noga will share learnings on:
Head of Consumer Insights - Experience Strategy & Innovation, Samsung Electronics
Samsung
Lawrence has headed up Consumer Insights in a Samsung HQ Strategy and Innovation team since its creation five years ago. With a particular mission to effect cultural change within a Tech-driven company, his role is to help make customer experience the guiding thread throughout. Previously he held insights roles at HTC at during the launch of VR notably, and prior to that at Cocal-Cola.
Lawrence Gould will talk about the journey of propagating consumer insights within the firm and discuss the role they play in the organizational thrust to deliver compelling customer experience. He will briefly explain which methods are used in the effort as well as share how the journey has triggered cultural change.
Group Technology Portfolio Director
Electrolux
Karin headed up Product Planning globally for a major Product Line of the Electrolux Group for a number of years. This involved an integrated, x-functional 5-year planning of products, platforms, investments and resources - and more critical: innovation and technologies.
In 2021 she moved into a new role leading the Groups Technology Portfolio Strategy - where one of her key tasks became the global steering of a Portfolio of Sustainable Solutions.
Karin was also Director in the Groups Consumer Innovation Program, a team in charge of driving the company’s consumer innovation agenda. Previous positions included Change Management/Business Re-engineering, after 10 years of operational and strategic Product and Marketing Management experience.
Karin studied business administration in Germany and France. Her passion is to help ‘landing’ great technologies and innovation in market launches through x-functional collaboration, delivering a distinct consumer experience.
VP Bosch Management Consulting & Partner Business Model Innovation
BOSCH
Uwe Kirschner has been Vice President in the Corporate Department for Business Model Innovation at Robert Bosch GmbH since April 2015. Previously he was responsible for the International Key Account Management and OEM / Private Label business in the Thermotechnology division of Bosch. His career history also includes the position as General Manager for Robert Bosch in Chile. He studied Business Administration and Marketing in Trier and Oxford and accomplished his PhD at Trier University.
Uwe Kirschner will talk about Bosch’ experiences with new business creation and leveraging design thinking, lean, and agile. He will share lessons learned and discuss evaluation criteria for successful scaling. Uwe will also detail typical problems encountered even after initial successful validation, and how to transition new ventures into business units.
Head of Sustainable Operations
The LEGO Group
Dr. Anita Friis Sommer is Head of Sustainable Operations at LEGO Group – leading the journey towards zero-impact in operations. She holds a post doctorate from University of Cambridge (U.K.), PhD in product development management, and a master’s degree in engineering management from Aalborg University, Denmark. She is double recipient of the Maurice Holland Award (2016 and 2019) by Innovation Research Interchange (US) for best R&D research on Agile development for physical products.
Anita Friis Sommer is Head of Sustainable Operations at LEGO Group. Dr. Sommer will talk about the new department’s approach to reducing carbon footprint, waste generation, and water consumption. Insights will be shared on:
Head of Ørsted Design Center of Excellence
Ørsted
With a broad background in design leadership, product innovation, user centred design thinking and launch of innovative global products and services, Michael now focuses on building human centered innovation cultures in large size organisations. His hands-on leadership approach has brought him to companies like Amazon, PayPal, eBay, Nokia and Lego as well as several startups. He currently leads the UX and design thinking practice at Ørsted, a leading renewable energy company. At Ørsted, Michael oversees the creation of the Design Thinking strategy while maturing the UX design function for the company. This includes operational, strategic and cultural ways to embed design and design thinking in a program at global scale in conjunction with
the agile transformation into SAFe (Scaled Agile Frameworks).
Michael lectures and teaches at several design schools and MBA programmes in design thinking and design strategy. He has recently been appointed adjunct professor of Design at the Royal Academy of Architecture and Design in Copenhagen (KADK). Furthermore he actively pursues communities and partnerships that rethink design in concert with the fields of Psychology, Business development and Marketing in an effort to create new frameworks for change."
Michael McKay will lead a lab on how to use rich narratives in innovation. He will start the lab off by explaining the reasons for using narratives, and will introduce a template for participants to use in crafting their own storylines. Michael will also share different variations of narratives to serve as inspiration.
The lab participants will learn and work on the following:
Head of Ideation:Hub
Volkswagen Group
Jannis Sutor joined Volkswagen in 2011 with a bachelor and master of business administration. After developing digital consumer products and researching on consumer insights, he helped shaping the internal Ideation:Hub which he today heads. Before Volkswagen, he was able to gain insights from banking, retail, manufacturing, to sports industry. These different perspectives are what motivates him the most: Tackling exciting challenges by being thoughtful and bold.
The “Innovation Roundtable” is one result of a question we are all facing everyday: “how to deal with all the global changes?”.
The continuous run for the new – whether it is to compete on the market, to win customers or to develop new products – this is what brings us to Copenhagen.
The lab aims to identify the right organizational conditions for training the muscle for this run: The creativity muscle.
Creativity is a core competency to answer the global changes. So, in the lab we are learning which dimensions of creativity can be fostered by an organization.
Participants assess their working environment and exchange about the best factors of creativity within the group discussion.
At the end, every participant should own an individual set of examples and ideas how to influence and build a true environment for creativity within their organizations.
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Jannis is working within the Volkswagen’s Ideation Hub that functions as an internal creative agency. He will lead a lab on digital business modelling with a Digital Canvas. He will briefly introduce the Hub’s approach to leveraging digital business modelling with the Digital Canvas followed by a try-out and exploration of the framework in discussion groups. The lab participants will learn and discuss the following: