Innovation is no longer a competitive advantage - it is the status quo. Organizations that stand out in the future must not only innovate but excel at it at all levels. Global corporations are re-designing their processes to become more Lean, Agile, and foster innovation from within to compete in a highly competitive challenger market. ​​But there is still a huge capability gap to fill. Analytical Thinking and Innovation are ranked as the #1 skills for 2025 by the World Economic Forum in The Future of Jobs report. The management tools we learn in business school fall short of what is truly needed for companies to thrive at innovation. Core organizational processes are designed for operational excellence and predictability. They are like high-speed trains with well-defined destination points. They allow us to improve performance towards excellence, but without ever changing its route or destination. Now, what if someone invents a new vehicle that can take shorter routes, at twice the speed, using one-tenth of the energy per km? The skillset needed to build, operate, and manage it is entirely different. Traditional management for trains will not work. Neither will entrepreneurship strategies either - building a car on train tracks will get it run over. That is when innovation management becomes the game-changer. A capability no longer exclusive to innovation teams. To remain competitive, all divisions will need these skills to improve their own processes. As Reid Hoffman said: "All companies are becoming tech companies." As PMO and Marketing once surged to become basic capabilities to any students of business, Innovation Management follows to create massive competitive advantages to those who master it. In this talk, come find out why, when, and how this phenomenon is happening and how you can anticipate it and boost your career.

Rafael is Managing Partner at Trimaran. Since 2010 he has built and scaled startups in Brazil, France, the US, and the UK. From equity crowdfunding to predictive behavioral analytics for recruiting, he has specialized in bringing early-stage ventures from concept to product-market fit. Previously, he worked for over 10 years as a trader and hedge fund manager for a Brazilian family office. As he joined the corporate innovation world, the challenges being faced to innovate was something he felt his combined skills had some of the answers to. After a deep dive, he fell in love with the quest and made his life's purpose to be an enabler of innovation at scale. From that "why" Trimaran was born.