"Create, Design, Innovate" - Enhancing Business Performance

Industrial Symposium: 21 & 22 September 2006, Downing College, Cambridge, UK

Structure of the event

The Symposium is limited to about 100 participants in order to retain open discussion and a good networking atmosphere. The programme is a mixture of keynote plenary presentation from leading international figures in innovation and technology management, case study sessions providing more opportunity to discuss particular company experiences in a more informal setting, and small group workshops which give access to some of the latest practical research findings.

Programme

Keynote Presentations

Thursday 21 September

Sir George Cox, Chairman, Design Council

"Getting greater creativity into UK Business"

Having long been an outspoken advocate for creativity as a critical element of the UK's future economic success, Sir George was asked by the Chancellor in 2005 to undertake a review on how to stimulate creativity in UK Businesses. He will discuss why he attaches such importance to the subject, explain the work, how it came about and discuss the findings and outcomes.

Professor John Bessant, Chair in Innovation Management, Imperial College and Senior Fellow, (UK), Advanced Institute of Management Research

"Dealing with discontinuity - managing innovation beyond the steady state"

After dinner speaker

Arnoud de Meyer, Director, Judge Business School

"Globalising your Innovation"

Friday 22 September

Joe Ferry, Head of Design, Virgin Atlantic Airways

"The Value of Design"

The need for companies to invest in Design is often advocated, but what is the return on such investments? Whilst it is costly to invest in design can companies afford not to invest in design? This presentation covers the value of design from the perspective of the client. It shows how the use of both in-house designers combined with external consultancies can prove a successful combination, if managed correctly. It also illustrates that design is just one component in product development but can be core in achieving a company's brand goal.

Clive Grinyer, Director of Design, France Telecom ExploCentre, Paris

"Lipstick on a Pig"

Gert Hildebrand, Head of Mini Design, BMW

"Buzzword innovation: Myths, truth and pain."

IN-HALT: Definition einesTraums

- Definition of a dream

IN-TUITION: Der Weg zum Ziel

- The journey to the goal

IN-OUT: "NIHS" das

- "Not Invented Here"

IN-SIGHT: Innovationsweg MINI CONCEPT

- Way of innovation

IN-DUKTION: Spannungsfeld Zukunft

- Area of tension: the future

Andrew Till, Director of Strategy and Portfolio, Europe Mobile Devices Business - Motorola

"Using innovation to create industry icons"

Workshops

(choose one of four workshops)

Thursday 21 September

To sponsor this workshop

1. Creativity

Nicos Raftis, Institute for Manufacturing

Enhancing the creativity of NPD teams is seen as an important source of competitive advantage. Even organisations with a long-standing culture of effective new product (or process) development are concerned with developing and sustaining organisational creativity. Sustainability is often dependent on an on-going learning process. There is wide agreement that enhancing creativity is not just a matter of tools or any predefined procedure. At the same time, managers increasingly recognise the tacit nature of essential creative skills such as noticing ability or the ability to think at different levels of abstraction, and appreciate the difficulties in developing or transferring it to other members of the organisation. The need for a systems approach to enhancing creativity in organisations is also widely recognised. A key question for managers is how this can be achieved.

This workshop will explore

• how different organisational factors affect creativity in the workplace;
• how to manage diversity;
• how to help your team develop deep skills of creative thinking such as noticing
• ability, abstract thinking, problem framing, and so on.

To sponsor this workshop

2. Supporting Design and Innovation through government policy

Finbarr Livesey and James Moultrie, Institute for Manufacturing

As production moves overseas, the UK is increasingly focusing on 'high value manufacturing'. Creativity, design and innovation have become important topics on the political agenda. However, there is strong evidence that there is an 'innovation gap' in the exploitation of the UK's science base. This workshop session explores the nature of this innovation gap, and will investigate the possible policy levers that a national government may pull to address this gap. The workshop will be an interactive discussion, structured around presentations of evidence on the UK's innovation performance and design/innovation related policies in a range of nations.

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3. Product design critique

John Stevens, Institute for Manufacturing and Nathan Crilly, Department of Engineering

This workshop session aims to critique the design of a range of products, with a view to investigating opportunities for improvement and understanding the characteristics of well designed products. Participants are invited to bring along an example of their product for structured critique. Issues under consideration will be aesthetics, ergonomics, design for production, inclusive design and others.

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4. Networking, Creativity and Innovation: Some Lessons from the Hollywood Film Industry

Simone Ferriani, Institute for Manufacturing

The aim of this workshop is to introduce the participants to a relational perspective on organizational innovation and individual creativity. Based on recent findings within the Hollywood Film Industry we will illustrate some recurring patterns in the way individual (collaborative relationships) as well as organizational (interfirm alliances) networks affect creativity and innovation. Understanding the meaning and role of networks can improve managerial decisions and assist efforts to promote intra-organizational as well as interfirm collaboration. The workshop will provide guidelines to managers who want to be more proactively engaged in shaping their organization's relational space in order to promote creativity and innovation.

Case Studies

(choose one session per day)

Thursday 21 September

To sponsor this workshop

Case Study 1 - Managing industrial design

Speakers include: Mike Cane and Nick Fields, Cambridge Design Partnership

The role of the design consultant has evolved. In the past, the industrial designer was viewed as responsible for aesthetics, ergonomics and visualisation. Increasingly however, the designer is helping firms develop a more user focused approach to innovation, challenging their market position, and contributing towards strategy development. In this case study session, we will explore the changing role of the industrial designer and investigate the management of this often essential external resource.

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Case Study 2 - Sustainable Design

To be chaired by Tom Counsell of the Institute for Manufacturing.
Speakers to include Stuart Elmes of Viridian Concepts and Neil Glover from Rolls-Royce plc.

Sustainability represents an opportunity to those companies leading the development of sustainable technologies. Sustainability also presents a very real threat to those companies facing the future requirements of environmental legislation. The emphasis of this case study session is on how to respond to the challenge of environmentally conscious design. The case study companies will discuss the approaches they have taken and explore the issues involved.

Friday 22 September

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Case Study 3 - Innovate

Turning innovative ideas into real solutions requires continuous problem finding and problem solving. Each problem solved requires and opens up new problems. Success depends on appropriate processes, skills, and understanding that enable a team to successfully deal with each of these problems. The emphasis of this case study session is on how identifying, naming, and framing problems at multiple levels can help materialise innovative solutions to a higher-level problem. Two companies will share reflections on their experiences in implementing innovative concepts.

Speakers

1. Howard Biddle and Charles Boulton (42 Technology)
2. Ewen Kellar (TWI)

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Case Study 4 - Scanning the Future

Companies face increasing rates of discontinuous change at the same time as increased levels of information flow. A key challenge for managers is to effectively and efficiently scan the technological horizons for opportunities and threats. This case study will discuss different approaches to seeing beyond the boundaries of the firm.

1. Letizia Mortara, Institute for Manufacturing
2. Alexander Van de Putte, World Economic Forum/INSEAD