Aug 22, 2007
Top Business Creativity And Innovation Executives And Experts To Share Ideas At DePaul University Oct. 26
Where do breakthrough ideas for new products and services come from and how can businesses nurture their development? Business leaders and researchers on the forefront of answering this complex question will share their knowledge and techniques at the Creativity and Innovation Management in Business Conference sponsored by DePaul University on Oct. 26.
Speakers include local executives from the design firm IDEO, a Gold Award co-winner in the 2007 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), and Q Interactive, which earned a recent Chicago Innovation Award.
“Companies of all sizes, industries and markets need to develop creativity and innovation in order to survive, compete and succeed in today’s marketplace,” observed management Professor Lisa Gundry, director of DePaul’s Center for Creativity and Innovation, which is hosting the conference. “Innovation is important for sustaining business strategy; developing new products, services and technologies; and creating processes necessary for high performing enterprises. This conference brings together innovation managers, entrepreneurs, management faculty and consultants who will present the latest strategies and processes to help companies innovate better and faster.”
The conference will feature concurrent workshops and panel discussions from noon to 5 p.m. at the DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd., 8th floor Speakers include:
Tom Stat, associate director of the Chicago office of IDEO, a worldwide innovative design consultancy, will present “You Never Learn Anything By Getting It Right,” which will explore the lessons learned by business innovators who are not afraid to take risks and make mistakes. IDEO, the design firm Ziba, and a start-up medical company, Calypso Medical Technologies Inc., shared the 2007 IDEA Gold Award, sponsored by BusinessWeek and the Industrial Designers Society. Together they created the Calypso 4D Localization System, a electromagnetic technology that helps doctors monitor and treat prostate cancer tumors.
Craig Markowitz, CEO of Blue Belt Technologies, a Pittsburg-based medical technology company that develops innovative computer-assisted surgical tools, and Marty Martin, associate professor of management who teaches in DePaul’s health sector management program, will lead a discussion of “Innovation in Health Care: Making a Difference in Quality of Life.”
Adam Shames, founder of the Kreativity Network, a Chicago-based firm that presents teambuilding and creativity seminars, will present “The Innovation Mindset: Keys to Personal and Professional Creativity.”
Min Basadur, professor of innovation at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and founder of Basadur Applied Creativity, a business creativity consultancy, will conduct an interactive workshop, “Learn Your Creative Problem Solving Profile.”
Kelley Fead, creative director of Slack Barshinger & Partners, an integrated business-to-business marketing agency, will address “Building and Sustaining Innovative Cultures.”
Dean M. Schroeder, the Herbert and Agnes Schulz Professor of Management at Valparaiso University, one of the foremost experts on generating ideas from front-line employees, will lead a session, “Ideas are Free,” about empowering creative work environments.
Management Professor Christopher Barlow of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Janet Finley, an international consultant, who jointly run the Co-Creativity Institute, a teambuilding center based in Glen Ellyn, Ill., will discuss “Choosing Your Approach to Deliberate Creativity.”
Praveen Gupta, president, Accelper Consulting and author of the book “Business Innovation in the 21st Century”, will discuss managing innovation.
Carol Oman, a leader of innovative applications at Kraft Foods’ research and development division, will address “Ideas Within Easy Reach: How Online Idea Management Can Enhance Your Innovation Program.”
Matthew Wise, CEO of the online marketing firm Q Interactive, a 2003 winner of the Chicago Innovation Awards for its unique business-to-consumer strategy, will present the conference’s keynote luncheon address.
The fee for the Creativity and Innovation Management in Business Conference is $175 per person and includes lunch. For registration and more information, contact the Center for Creativity and Innovation at (312) 362-8395 or visit the center’s Web site: creativity.depaul.edu.
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