Keep innovating how you innovate.
As corporate innovators it's our task to create new value, realize growth and lead our organizations into the future.
That's still easier said than done. As our function evolves, we're still facing many challenges: from the big strategic questions to day-to-day tactics, and from doing your actual innovation work, to managing stakeholders and engaging leadership.
Join our Summer School to understand what’s working in other companies, benchmark your performance, and develop new skills.
Tuesday 19 September, 16:00-19:00 CEST/10am-1pm EDT/7am-10am PDT
Aligning Strategy to Innovation
16:00-16:30 CEST/10am-10:30am EDT/7am-7:30am PDT
Introduction & Networking
18:45-19:00 CEST/12:45pm-1pm EDT/9:45am-10am PDT
Capturing Takeaways & Wrap Up
Gabby Blume - Community Lead at Innov8rs
16:30-18:00 CEST/10:30am-12pm EDT/7:30am-9am PDT
Aligning Strategy to Innovation: How to Dream Big but Start Small
In this session, we will focus on how to align your corporate strategy to your innovation efforts - so that you can build things that matter and get buy-in. This means using the strategy to tell the story of the 100MM opportunity, while working on smaller innovation projects that make it possible to achieve that 100MM vision.
Having worked with numerous corporate partners, Paige will draw on tools and techniques that have helped to:
- Leverage the strategy appropriately
- Tell the story of the strategy in the context of innovation (both new growth and necessary change)
- Construct a portfolio of innovation projects that aims to capitalize on the strategy
- Create a story arc brings together the portfolio to get buy-in at different levels of the org
Through this strategic alignment, your teams will be empowered to start on smaller more achievable innovations that have the potential to grow into impactful strategic platforms for your organization.
Paige Halam-Andres - Managing Director Innovation at Highline Beta
18:00-18:45 CEST/12pm-12:45pm EDT/9am-9:45am PDT
RBC Ventures: Aligning your Strategy to Your Innovation Efforts
Building on the workshop before, in this session Gabriel Woo, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Payments at RBC and Highline Beta's Ben Yoskovitz will talk about the evolution of RBC Ventures from a separate entity focused on building new ventures at RBC to a more strategically integrated innovation arm that capitalized on existing knowledge and expertise to drive growth for both new ventures and the enterprise.
From this session you’ll takeaway:
- How to leverage corporate strategy to drive innovation efforts
- How to construct a portfolio of innovation efforts that drives both new growth and growth for existing business lines
- How to get buy-in for new innovation via strategic storytelling
Gabriel Woo & Ben Yoskovitz - Senior Vice President of Enterprise Payments at RBC | Founding Partner at Highline Beta
Wednesday 20 September, 16:00-19:00 CEST/10am-1pm EDT/7am-10am PDT
Embedding Sustainability In Your Innovation Governance and Portfolio Management Approach
16:00-16:30 CEST/10am-10:30am EDT/7am-7:30am PDT
Introduction & Networking
18:30-19:00 CEST/12:30pm-1pm EDT/9:30am-10am PDT
Capturing Takeaways & Wrap Up
Gabby Blume - Community Lead at Innov8rs
16:30-18:30 CEST/10:30am-12:30pm EDT/7:30am-9:30am PDT
Embedding Sustainability In Your Innovation Governance and Portfolio Management Approach
In this session, you will learn about how to establish sustainability as a part of your decision-making processes. You will learn how companies are performing sustainability assessments throughout the product development lifecycle and how they are using such assessments to make better, more informed product investment decisions.
You will also learn how they view and report their innovation portfolio from a sustainability perspective to demonstrate and validate alignment with company sustainability goals.
The session will include guest speakers as well as a panel discussion on what leading companies have learned thus far and where best practices in this area are headed.
Hugh Blethyn - Senior Managing Consultant at Sopheon
Peter Reynders, Dave MacAdam, Dr. Jan Sültemeyer & Daniel Spang - Senior Business Process Manager at Merck | Director, Portfolio Management at Novelis | Global Sustainability Leader at Avient Corporation |Innovation Expert at Renolit
Thursday 21 September, 16:00-19:00 CEST/10am-1pm EDT/7am-10am PDT
Open Innovation: What's Working Now
16:00-16:30 CEST/10am-10:30am EDT/7am-7:30am PDT
Introduction & Networking
18:30-19:00 CEST/12:30pm-1pm EDT/9:30am-10am PDT
Capturing Takeaways & Wrap Up
Gabby Blume - Community Lead at Innov8rs
16:30-17:30 CEST/10:30am-11:30am EDT/7:30am-8:30am PDT
Leverage the Open Innovation Ecosystem to Surface Disruptive Innovation Opportunities
The fastest, most effective way to understand emerging business trends & technologies is to go to the source; the VCs, startups, technologists and marketers that are inventing the future. This session will focus on a unique approach to leveraging the Open Innovation Ecosystem to drive insights, identify opportunities and activate comprehensive business & digital strategies.
During this session we will discuss top corporate innovation benchmarking trends that are informing Open Innovation 2.0. We will specifically discuss how Open Innovation 2.0 breaks down internal silos, leverages the broader ecosystem to gather “outside-in” perspectives and applies start-up centric approaches & tools to develop an integrated approach to disruptive innovation across the build, buy, partner & invest spectrum.
Andrew Backs - Founder at Pilot44
17:30-18:30 CEST/11:30am-12:30pm EDT/8:30am-9:30am PDT
P&G’s Benchmark Approach to Startup Innovation including Lessons Learned Along the Way
During this session, we will discuss P&G’s approach to startup innovation and their open innovation journey. We will discuss the evolution of their approaches and how they are capturing value.
Kevin McCarthy - Senior Director, Global Startup Innovation at Procter & Gamble
Wednesday 6 September, 16:00-19:00 CEST/10am-1pm EDT/7am-10am PDT
Real Innovation ROI: Predicting Impact and Profit in Early Stage Innovation Projects
16:00-16:30 CEST/10am-10:30am EDT/7am-7:30am PDT
Introduction & Networking
18:30-19:00 CEST/12:30pm-1pm EDT/9:30am-10am PDT
Capturing Takeaways & Wrap Up
Gabby Blume - Community Lead at Innov8rs
16:30-18:00 CEST/10:30am-12pm EDT/7:30am-9am PDT
Real Innovation ROI: Predicting Impact and Profit in Early Stage Innovation Projects
Customer empathy sounds great, but where are the numbers? How can we judge early stage projects without a business case? How can I bet my career on an idea without market sizing?
In order to predict impact and profit, early stage intrapreneurs and the finance team need to work together to map qualitative data into concrete business cases.
Even for early stage projects, they can create simple, understandable financial models in an hour. Those models can serve to focus the type of experiments and research the team needs to do to prove out a good investment.
Tristan Kromer - Innovation Coach and Founder at Kromatic
18:00-18:30 CEST/12pm-12:30pm EDT/9am-9:30am PDT
Proving the Value of Innovation: How Innovation Departments Show Value
The relentless pursuit of innovation is more critical than ever. However, just as vital is the ability of innovation departments to clearly and convincingly demonstrate the value they bring to the table. This panel discussion will dive into the challenges and strategies associated with quantifying and showcasing the impact of innovation.
Join this session to gain insights into:
- Key Metrics & KPIs: Understand which metrics innovation leaders rely on to track and communicate their department's success.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Learn best practices for engaging and educating stakeholders, from the C-suite to shareholders, about the tangible and intangible returns on innovation investments.
- Overcoming Skepticism: Address the hurdles faced when proving value, particularly in scenarios where ROI is long-term or not directly monetary.
Megan Kennedy, Lisette Koppelman & Ben Williams - Head of Learning at Kromatic | Business Consultant | Strategy & Innovation at ABN Amro Bank | Director of Business Development and Member Services at Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association
Thursday 7 September, 16:00-19:00 CEST/10am-1pm EDT/7am-10am PDT
AI-Powered Innovation
16:00-16:30 CEST/10am-10:30am EDT/7am-7:30am PDT
Introduction & Networking
18:30-19:00 CEST/12:30pm-1pm EDT/9:30am-10am PDT
Capturing Takeaways & Wrap Up
Gabby Blume - Community Lead at Innov8rs
16:30-17:30 CEST/10:30am-11:30am EDT/7:30am-8:30am PDT
AI-Powered Innovation
AI is enabling new and unimagined possibilities in all areas of our lives - and new challenges.
This session will focus on the impact that AI is having on innovation, specifically how:
- AI is enabling greater speed, depth and breadth in innovation, and new methodologies
- AI is enabling new types of innovations, and new go-to-market models
- AI comes with significant challenges - they can be overcome with a thoughtful approach
Geoff Gibbins - Managing Director Americas at Board of Innovation
17:30-18:30 CEST/11:30am-12:30pm EDT/8:30am-9:30am PDT
GenAI for Strategy & Innovation
In this session Gabriele Rosani and Paolo Cervini will present their recent Harvard Business Review Italia ebook “Generative AI for Strategy & Innovation”. In this one-of-a-kind experiment, they leveraged ChatGPT as a “co-thinker” to improve well-established innovation methodologies like Open Innovation, Co-Creation, Discovery Driven Growth, Agile.
From this session you’ll takeaway:
- How to use ChatGPT as a creative sparring partner (how to prompt, how to challenge responses, and separate "gems" from less valuable insights)
- How to apply ChatGPT’s recommendations for enhancing innovation frameworks
- How to recalibrate the skillset of innovators for a successful human-machine way of working
Paolo Cervini & Gabriele Rosani - Vice President, Co-Lead of Capgemini Invent’s Management Lab | Director Content & Research of Capgemini Invent’s Management Lab
Tuesday 12 September, 16:00-19:00 CEST/10am-1pm EDT/7am-10am PDT
Creativity is Your Competitive Advantage: Why Creative Intelligence is a 21st Century Survival Skill
16:00-16:30 CEST/10am-10:30am EDT/7am-7:30am PDT
Introduction & Networking
18:30-19:00 CEST/12:30pm-1pm EDT/9:30am-10am PDT
Capturing Takeaways & Wrap Up
Gabby Blume - Community Lead at Innov8rs
16:30-18:30 CEST/10:30am-12:30pm EDT/7:30am-9:30am PDT
Creativity is Your Competitive Advantage: Why Creative Intelligence is a 21st Century Survival Skill
In a world where machines are better at analytical thinking, and democratized data means everyone has the same knowledge, we need to find our next competitive advantage. Creative Intelligence is the uniquely human skill of understanding, interpreting, and acting with imagination.
Join this workshop to learn how the five guiding principles of Creative Intelligence will help you to ask better questions that lead to the right insights, translate data into impactful strategies, and inspire your listeners through engaging storytelling. Add value that machines cannot.
You will also get early access to the Creative Intelligence profile and an exclusive discount on the training course by Sense Worldwide.
Freddie Gibbons - Creative Intelligence Coach and Senior Innovation Consultant at Sense Worldwide
Wednesday 13 September, 16:00-19:00 CEST/10am-1pm EDT/7am-10am PDT
Navigating Innovation: How Winning Companies Structure their Innovation Efforts
16:00-16:30 CEST/10am-10:30am EDT/7am-7:30am PDT
Introduction & Networking
18:30-19:00 CEST/12:30pm-1pm EDT/9:30am-10am PDT
Capturing Takeaways & Wrap Up
Gabby Blume - Community Lead at Innov8rs
16:30-17:30 CEST/10:30am-11:30am EDT/7:30am-8:30am PDT
Navigating Innovation: How Winning Companies Structure their Innovation Efforts
In this session, we'll dive into the world of industry-leading organizations and uncover the secrets behind their successful innovation structures.
You will gain invaluable insights into the enablers and key characteristics that fuel innovation within these top-tier companies, understand the transformative power of various innovation vehicles, strategically designed to create lucrative new revenue streams, and finally, witness innovation in action through captivating real-life examples that inspire and ignite your team's creative spark.
Tyler Anderson - CEO at Disruptive Edge
17:30-18:30 CEST/11:30am-12:30pm EDT/8:30am-9:30am PDT
Navigating Innovation: How Winning Companies Structure their Innovation Efforts
Learn about the inner-workings of innovation at top organizations like Amtrak and P&G. We are happy to have Ryan Leveille, Executive AVP of Innovation at Amtrak and Drew Heidel, Global Account & Strategy Leader for Sazerac and former P&G Ventures Disruptive Innovation & Design Director, discussing their experiences in structuring innovation at large organizations, what works, what doesn’t and how have they have been successful at scale.
Andrew Heidel - Global Account & Strategy Leader at Sazerac Company & Ryan Leveille - Executive AVP Innovation at Amtrak
Thursday 14 September, 16:00-19:00 CEST/10am-1pm EDT/7am-10am PDT
Leveraging Venture Building for Long-Term Returns
16:00-16:30 CEST/10am-10:30am EDT/7am-7:30am PDT
Introduction & Networking
17:45-18:00 CEST/11:45am-12pm EDT/8:45am-9am PDT
Capturing Takeaways & Wrap Up
Gabby Blume - Community Lead at Innov8rs
16:30-17:45 CEST/10:30am-11:45am EDT/7:30am-8:45am PDT
Spin-Out / Spin-In Venture Building: Moving Innovation Funding from P&L to Balance Sheet
Corporations often underinvest in disruptive innovation due to short-term budgeting and risk concerns, despite substantial cash reserves. This contrasts with the 'patient capital' model of startups and VCs, which expect high, long-term returns while accepting some failures. This session will discuss how corporations can apply a patient capital approach to innovation through Spin-Out/Spin-In Corporate Venture Building.
This method enables you to invest in external growth ventures (Venture NewCos) off the balance sheet (vs. the P&L), offering startup agility, risk mitigation, and employee incentives.
You will walk away from this session with a clear view on how spin-out innovation models work, the benefits and how to apply it within your business, brought to life with example case studies from corporations successfully leveraging this approach.
Andrew Backs - Founder at Pilot44
Not your typical webinar: you'll learn and do stuff.
Forget pointless powerpoints. You’ll roll up your sleeves, and work with peers and experts in interactive small group sessions.
Whatever your challenges are, and regardless of industry and innovation maturity, you'll leave with new, practical insights and an upgraded toolbox, to implement right away.
All Learning Labs follow the same structure:
- 30 min: Speed networking and introduction of session
- 60-90 min: Interactive deep dive
- 30-60 min: Stories from the trenches with cross-industry innovation leaders
- 30 min: Capturing takeaways and next steps
With each Learning Lab comes access to relevant content and resources from the "Netflix of Corporate Innovation"
Also, you'll be able to engage with other participants through our community platform before, during and after the session.
Bring your team. Boost your impact.
Innovation is a team sport, don't you agree?
Bring your team to focus on one key topic and get to the bottom of it. Or, you can divide and conquer to capture all of what's being discussed..
With our team packages you get a great deal on tickets- but even greater outcomes.
With so many issues to tackle and so much change happening so fast, you will benefit from your team joining too.
You're in great company.
Membership is available only to individuals and teams, working in roles like
• Chief Innovation Officer / VP of Innovation
• Head of Innovation, Innovation Program Director, Innovation Lab/Centre Director, Innovation Team Lead
• Venture Lead, Individual Intrapreneur, Innovation Team Member
• Leader/professional in general business role or other functions like Strategy, IT/Transformation, R&D/Product, Marketing, HR/Change
Connect and collaborate with other corporate innovators from brands like
Trusted by brands. Loved by peers.
"This is my tribe of lifelong learners and do-ers.
Innov8rs is unlike any conference. It’s the only place were corporate innovators and intrapreneurs get vulnerable and real about the challenges facing disruptors today and work together on creating breakthrough opportunities."
"I am blown away with learnings, reflections and new insights. Such an amazing crowd with a true sharing mentality.
I have gathered so many cases for best practice on how to run innovation, how to measure it, how to fuel intrapreneurship etc. Further, most people I have met are really down to earth, pragmatic and no-bulshit kind of people that are creating real impact in the companies they work for."
"I'm amazed by the format, how open, honest and authentic it was.
What a great event! You rarely ever get that with these types of events - well done!"
"This was a refreshing reminder that we're not alone.
Sometimes working at the front-end of innovation can be a lonely place, especially in a large 100-year-old company. Connecting with so many other innovation professionals acted as a shot of adrenaline reigniting my drive to transform our organization."
"I understand how difficult these events are to run in the best of times.
This is hands down the best virtual event I have attended."
"For me, the Innov8rs Unconference is one of the few intrapreneurship conferences that is worth paying for.
The ability to connect with such a high quality speakers, ask questions, and get great insights is just invaluable!"
"I have already used some of the ideas presented. It is also influencing my thoughts on many other areas related to innovation.
The value of the Unconference has far exceeded the cost."
"The conference was great – it was a perfect mixture of networking and practical learning with a group of high-caliber, highly involved and dedicated participants.
It's a rarity to attend an event like this!"
Ready to dive in?
Join Innov8rs Summer School to upgrade your skill-, tool- and mindset, and increase your impact as innovation professional.
The Summer School consists of 8 Learning Labs, 3-hour workshops each covering one key pillars of corporate innovation.
As a first step, select your pass and complete registration via the buttons below.
Individual Pass | Full Summer School - 8 Learning Labs
1 seat for 8 of 8 Learning Labs
€495
Are you a member of Innov8rs Community already?
As a member, you are automatically enrolled onto every Learning Lab, so no need for you to purchase a pass separately. Want to become a member? As a first step, apply here.
Need some help?
If you'd like to understand better how participating in Innov8rs Learning Labs would support you and your team in achieving your objectives, or if you have questions about registration, start a chat via the blue button bottom right or email hans@innov8rs.co