Your Innovation Challenge: How Can I Rattle Old Industries and Create New Ones?

Based on their entrepreneurial spirit and to ability to challenge the expected, Fortune Magazine named its top 24 Innovators for 2008. Hear stories from two of these ‘disruptors’, then, join them in open Q&A to find out how you can be a change-maker.

Part I: How Do I Break the Barriers to Innovation?

Where do great ideas come from? People who aren’t afraid to push the limits. JumpTap, a two year old company developed a global search engine and search-advertising platform designed specifically for cellphones. Their gatekeepers were some of the largest players on the planet (think Yahoo and Google), yet they’ve managed to become the leader in this high saturation market. How did they do this? By innovating for new product development on a global basis right out of the gate and finding that unique edge to keep you one step ahead of the competition.

Innovation Leader: Dan Olschwang, Chief Executive Officer, JUMPTAP

Part II: How Can I Create a Revolution in an Existing Market?

To truly succeed in the innovation filed, you need to be a serial entrepreneur- always thinking about what might be the next ‘big thing’. Hjalmar Winbladh continues to do just that. In 1994 he co-founded Sendit AB, amoviel internet company late acquired by Microsoft, and in 2006 he co-founded Rebtel- leveraging his mobile internet expertise to start a revolution in international mobile calling. True innovators make forward-thinking idea generation part of their normal routine, and push the boundaries to see these visions come to life.

Innovation Leader: Hjalmar Windbladh, Chief Executive Officer, REBTEL

Your Innovation Challenge: How Can I Re-Imagine What My Product Can Mean?

New Speaker TBA. Check back soon for updates!

Morning Networking & Refreshment Break in the Innovation Plaza

Featured “Experience”: Nintendo Wii! At Innovation Immersion we encourage DOING.
Our motto is don’t speak about it, be about… or actually, do both! After you hear from Nintendo’s President & CEO, join your colleagues in the Innovation Plaza to play your favorite Nintendo Wii games.

Innovation inspirations can come from anywhere- often when you least expect it. A revolutionary farmer from Virginia, Joel Salatin delivers a powerful message about the power of diversity and achieving new (and superior) results by doing things in “old” ways. Many successful entrepreneurial start-ups morph into “Wall-Streetified” empires that lose their distinctiveness. Polyface Farm, a third generation diversified grass-based beyond-organic livestock farm, dares to retain its soul distinctiveness in the face of exponential growth.Core non-traditional strategies articulate a contrarian business approach: no sales targets; no trademarks; clearly defined bio-regional and market boundary, incentivized work force, ecological carrying capacity, no IPO. These and other approaches allow the Salatin family owners to let the business grow without compromising the farm’s essence in customer service, product quality, or quality of life. Joel reminds you that it’s your right to opt out of the conventional paradigm. You
never know where your next great idea will come from- and you’ll be surprised how Joel’s insights will resonate with your current challenges.

Innovation Leader: Joel Salatin, Author & President, POLYFACE, INC.

Innovation is the art, science and discipline of finding, creating or identifying ideas, integrating those into winning consumer propositions, and commercializing for business growth. Successful organizations are able to integrate available information, knowledge and ideas into customer-relevant distinctions and commercialize those with speed and excellence. How can we build an organizational culture that excels in identifying or creating winning ideas, converting those ideas into winning consumer propositions and making this process as a part of the organizational DNA to sustain innovation? It takes a special type of leadership, as well as organizational environment and behaviors, to build a culture of innovation for generational growth.

Key Innovation Learning Points:
• What is our role as innovation leaders in building and sustaining Innovation culture?
• How do we instill and retain burning desire to innovate for business growth?
• How do we integrate and leverage diverse global knowledge and approaches for competitive edge?
• How do we get the most optimal business outcomes from collaborative innovation teams, within and outside our sphere of influence?
• How do we weave the innovation mindset in the organizational DNA for generational business growth?

Innovation Leader: Surinder Kumar, Ph.D., MBA; Chief Innovation Officer, WM. WRIGLEY JR. COMPANY