Innovation is the essential part of growth with all organizations. While there is an abundance of customer needs and potential technologies and solutions, it is not always trivial to connect the two in a way that can be sustained economically.

In this talk, based on the research published and my personal experience, Erdogan will be sharing 3 critical points for organizations to successfully cross the entrepreneurial chiasm for growth:

1) Clear customer problem definition
2) partnership with early adopters
3) optimized go to market

After exemplifying each, he will make recommendations for the organization to embed the approach into their processes and ideally into their culture to have a sustainable innovation via entrepreneurial mindset.

Erdoğan Cesmeli is the executive director for product operations at Honeywell Connected Enterprise. His current team’s mission includes developing industrial software as a service (SaaS) across Honeywell. Before his current role, Erdogan was the general manager of Breakthrough Initiatives at Honeywell, where his team created a pipeline of new products and businesses. Prior to joining Honeywell, he held the positions of Executive Dir for GE Ventures – Market Creation and for Product Management and Partnerships at IBM Watson Health.

His industry experience is mainly in healthcare but also includes energy, transportation, and infrastructure sectors. He assumed several global roles in the U.S. While working in France and Turkey, Erdoğan held regional positions covering Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In his spare time, Erdoğan volunteers at high school & college entrepreneurship programs in local communities, mentors at local and international entrepreneurship programs, and startup incubators. Erdoğan earned his BS in Electrical Engineering from Bilkent University, Turkey, his MS and PhD from Ohio State University in computer visin and artificial intelligence respectively. He received his MBA at University of Chicago with concentrations in strategy, marketing, and finance.