Alex Goryachev Global Technology Executive - Digitization, Transformation and Innovation, WSJ Bestselling Author

Thanks to a younger generations’ increasing focus on greater purpose in their work besides income, social and environmental concerns have come to play a pivotal role in business. Thanks to globalization and hyper-connectivity, the environments in which many organizations exist have shifted from local to regional to global, meaning that their products and services, as well as actions and values, can now affect people all over the world.

While many of us are living in smart houses, with amenities like connected irrigation systems, and are sending off cotton swabs of DNA to learn about our personal genomics, almost half of the world has yet to get connected to the internet. One third of the world population lacks access to clean water and half of the world population doesn’t have access to basic healthcare.

We all have a responsibility to improve the living conditions for people everywhere. Such improvement can only happen through innovation and economic opportunity.

We will explore United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and look the ways organizations can take action and what pressing topics will be ahead of us over next 10 years. After all, organizations that are leading this change by investing in making the world a better place end up benefiting more than just their shareholders—they benefit everyone.

Just like the Internet, not all innovative ideas are born inside the boardroom. For innovation to succeed in your organization, you need to tap into the entire ecosystem. That means partnering and co-innovation with customers, suppliers, academia, communities, nonprofits and more. 

Yet, there's a tendency to remain insular out of ego and fear, which causes organizations to miss out on the major benefits they would otherwise received when working with the entire ecosystem.

Drawn from personal experience, we will discuss the value that non-traditional ecosystem partnerships can bring to your organization: from employee development, to brand value, from community relationships, to new product introduction and revenue acceleration. We look at case studies around the world to pinpoint the value co-innovation across different organization and verticals.

Most importantly, we will have a blueprint for identifying and creating win-win relationship with others that opens opportunities and creates new measurable value for everyone involved. 

Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert comics famously said that “Large corporations welcome innovation and individualism in the same way the dinosaurs welcomed large meteors.” Is that really true in the age where “culture eats strategy”? No matter if our organization is big or small, it’s up to middle managers and leaders to ensure that our teams survive and thrive, and our companies succeed. 

In this session, we will explore implications that the accelerated pace of innovation has on our employees and customers. We will look at case studies from iconic business that failed and those that succeeded. This session with provide you with that you can leverage to build and execute balanced innovation strategy that delivers clear and measurable results.

Regretfully, innovation is on track to become one of the most overused and meaningless buzzwords of the decade. It’s the thing that every leader demands, yet many don't understand why they need it in their organization, or even what it is. Despite the real need to make our businesses more competitive, efficient and our forward looking, many organizations, maintain the status quo by "celebrating" innovation, instead of truly welcoming it. 

Innovation is not about luck, it isn’t a thing, it’s a mindset and attitude made up of clear principles. By working with organizations around the globes - from enterprises, to startups, nonprofits, and cities, I've developed clear principles that can transform any organization into innovation machine.

In this session, we will take pragmatic approach and look at the principles that make true transformation successful. Together we will challenge meaningless buzzwords, vague “methodologies” and fake innovation projects that waste money, confuse customers, and often make best employees leave.  We will look at case studies that showcase the replicable practices that separate those who perish from those who thrive. As a result, you will be equipped with pragmatic steps that you can take to make your organization more competitive, regardless of function or industry