While listening to your customers is key for successful innovation, disruptive innovation doesn’t usually emerge from inside a market, but is often triggered by technologies that allow us to think about a problem in a completely new way. But pursuing technology-inspired innovation isn’t merely “tech push”, and successful commercialization of even the seemingly greatest technology is far from trivial.

In his provocative talk, Kai Wicker, head of the ZEISS Innovation Hub Dresden, will share his learnings exploring the business potential of deep tech, such as identifying the right tech and evaluating its potential but also external and internal hurdles for the shaping of new markets, that may seem out-of-reach today.

Kai was pursuing an academic career in physics and always knew that industry just wasn’t for him – until ten years ago, when he took the plunge and joined ZEISS, where he found his passion for innovation and strategy.

Over the years he’s held various roles in R&D and innovation management. As the head of one of two ZEISS Innovation Hubs, he is using strategic foresighting to help ZEISS prepare for a future transformed by radical technological change.