Call for Presenters: Future Trends

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is currently seeking presenters specializing in Futuring and vision.

The 18th Annual World Future Trend event is in the midst of a major transformation. From the name to the people who will come.

The 18th Annual Re-imagined World Future Trends Summit

November 13-15, 2013

Los Angeles, CA 

We’re scouring the earth for disruptive thinkers – our goal is to unite innovators to collaborate across functionalities - from insights to brand design to trend watchers to futurists to marketers to strategic planners to C suite leadership… We are not looking for good or great. We are looking for the most future forward, smart people in the world to come together and share their inspiring stories that will result in commercial impact. We are searching for practical wisdom. The entire event will focus on the HOW not the WHAT. We are on the hunt for groundbreaking.

 If you are an authentic visionary and want to share your story to help people across different cultures and business ensure relevance for the future – then we invite you to submit an idea. Our goal is to revolutionize this event from a conference to a blended learning experience to accelerate future growth.

 While our event title is in limbo – thanks to all your feedback - we know the event will be focused on “Prediction to Implementation: exploratory learning experience for synthesizing world trends, brand strategy, innovation and human science into a future action plan”. 

 How will we achieve this?

 1. TOP TRENDS revealed from trend experts around the world. Is this you? If so, email us.

 2. STRATEGIC CONTEXTUALIZING – how is this visionary information relevant to what others do and how to adapt and implement it? Real world Business Cases work well to achieve this. Do you have a story to share? If so, email us

 3. Exploratory Learning: Putting trends and ideas into practice in real time. Workshops and field trips are some potential ideas – but we are open to more. Can you facilitate a workshop? Do you have an idea for a nontraditional experience? If so, email us.

**We are particularly interested in storytelling workshops by filmmakers or Hollywood producers as well as a 3D printing workshops. If you can help bring mind-blowing content delivered through extraordinary experiences email us.

 Due to the high volume of submissions, we suggest you submit your proposal early and no later than 7 June, 2013 to Romina Kunstadter, Conference Director. To submit your proposal, please email RKunstader@iirusa.com.

Presenters receive FREE admission to the entire 3-day conference. We are currently looking for client-side case studies ONLY (for consultants, vendors, and solutions providers, please additional information below*).

Following are a few topic ideas:
• Trend Tracking 
• Trend Implementation Strategy 
• Creativity & Innovation 
• Global Social Trends 
• Global Technological Innovations 
• Economic Trends 
• Behavioral Trends 
• Rapid Prototyping 
• Big Data & Analytics 
• Connectivity & Collaboration 
• Thriving in Emerging Markets 
• Consumer Trends 
• Environmental Trends 
• Design Trends 
• Creating a Futurist division within your company 
• Global Social Media Trends 
• Future of Millennial 

*INVESTING IN FUTURE TRENDS 2013: If you are interested in investing in this event as a sponsor please contact Jon Saxe at JSaxe@iirusa.com.

CALL FOR PRESENTERS: For consideration, please e-mail Rkunstadter@iirusa.com with the following information by 7th June.
• Proposed presenter name(s), job title(s), and company name(s)
• Contact information including address, telephone and e-mail
• Title and objective of presentation
• Please indicate which topic you plan to address and please indicate what is NEW about the presentation
• Summary of the talk
• What the audience will gain from your presentation (please list 3-5 key “take-aways”)

Hershey’s Innovation Strategy Accelerates the Candy Giant’s Global Growth

For almost 120 years, The Hershey Company has embodied innovation with products that have changed the confectionery industry and established the company as one of the world's leading candy makers. As part of the company's strategy to drive global growth and innovation, it is opening an Asia Innovation Center located in Shanghai, China. Hershey's new Innovation Center is a big step toward continuing to accelerate its growth momentum.

This new research and development hub will enable Hershey to launch new products customized to the tastes of consumers across Asia. The facility in Shanghai provides a strategic gateway to the larger Asia market while enabling close collaboration with local and regional China sales marketing personnel. Currently, China is Hershey's fastest growth market, moving from number seven to number three in chocolate share in only five years with chocolate share more than quadrupling by 2012.

"Our new Innovation Center in Shanghai supports our aggressive growth plans in Asia and reflects our global approach to business," said Michael Wege, senior vice president, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer, The Hershey Company, in a statement. "It will enable us to translate our insights and knowledge of consumer tastes and preferences into relevant products.”

The two-floor, 22,000 square-foot facility is a significant investment in the China market and will house R&D laboratories, a plant for the chocolate and sweets & refreshment categories and a development center for emerging product offerings. In addition, it will feature a sensory area, creativity center, packaging development section and research laboratory.

The center will initially employ 12 scientists and product developers and includes office space for 32 engineers and innovation staff. Hershey will also supplement technical resources that will enable this facility to become a global innovation hub with a focus on building powerful brands across Asia and worldwide. So, emphasis will be placed on consumer research and - a process Hershey's calls “consumer-centric brand building.” Hershey can gain a holistic understanding of how the company's products play into consumer needs.

"The China team is very excited about the new Innovation Center in Shanghai," said Jane Xu, vice president and general manager of Greater China for The Hershey Company. "Our aggressive growth target in the next five years will be achieved by building our five global brands across China, along with the innovation capabilities developed at the center."

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Submit Your Innovation Master Thesis to the Future Ideas Competition Today!

Alumni Masters, there are only a few days left to participate Future Ideas European Innovation Master Thesis Competition by submitting your innovation master thesis! You have the exclusive opportunity to connect with like-minded master graduates, academia and companies in order to boost innovation and entrepreneurship. Main partners of Future Ideas are such as Dialogues Incubator, ABN AMRO and the extremely valued IIRUSA!

With your thesis you have the opportunity to come to the Future Ideas Grand Finale on June 21^st in Amsterdam and win one of the three prizes - 3500 EUR, 1000 EUR or 500 EUR! The elite jury panel consists of innovators from universities and companies from all over Europe! Think of Alcatel-Lucent, SWIFT, Microsoft, Philips, IIRUSA, etc.

Deadline for submissions: May 24^th

Grand Finale: June 21^st

For more information please visit the website:

http://futureideas.eu/

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The Importance of Strategic Innovation

Today, in order for your business to succeed, it needs to stay competitive. So, you need strategic innovation to understand the marketplace and produce new products to meet the needs of your customers. Without strategic innovation you won’t keep up with, let alone stay ahead in the today’s faced paced business world.

According to Tom Donovan of Wisepreneur, a company needs a template of strategic innovation because the business needs it to survive the cut throat competition. Without techniques to analyze the business world, the competition as well as how the company can innovate, it stagnates. As technology advances at a rapid pace a business needs to be able to utilize that technology with innovative concepts. Businesses can fail if they can’t grow in this ever-changing world.

Additionally, the business needs to look for new streams of revenues that can keep the company going. Innovation is one way to make a lasting statement in the business world and keep a company going. The long-term strategy of a company is then one of the most important aspects of the business. By developing strategies to stay competitive the business has a better chance to succeed. A company will look at its own products, and then decide how to improve them or make new ones that have an impact on the marketplace.

“Just think of Apple and how popular their PCs and mobile technology is. If Apple just sat there and never worked on its innovation then it wouldn’t be in the position it is today. Apple developed strategies and used strategic innovation to be the giant in the PC and mobile market that they are,” wrote Donovan.

He suggests the following template for innovation strategy:

• New business models – You help your business grow in new directions with new products that allow your business to stand out in the marketplace
• Increased Value- Your company has increased values and this leads to more value for your business
• New Markets – Your business can break into new markets that it might not have been able to before

Strategist innovation will allow you to break through the conventional mold and gain that advantage over companies that sell the same products you do. The business world always changes and those that recognize those changes have an advantage over those that never change. If you use strategic innovation to analyze your business and those of your competitors, you’ll see where those improvements to your business models can propel your business.

Today’s consumers wants the next best thing and by innovating you can give them what they want. Innovation will help you get there. 

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5 Trends Changing the Small Business Future

A small business is considered to be any company that employs less than 100 people. Today, in the U.S., small businesses employ over half of the country's workforce. Many people think that industrial giants are the most important factor in driving the economy, but small businesses are actually on top. Without small businesses, where would half of the country work?  

Small business in America has been the stabilizing force in the economy. Entrepreneurs are the backbone of creativity and production. Small business is what stimulates economic growth. With over 60 percent of all private sector jobs coming from small business, it is a proven fact that small businesses are critical to the economy.

Looking into the future, here's a look at five trends, according to Laurel Delaney, a world-renowned global small business expert, that are reshaping a very bright future for small businesses.

Innovation

It’s a way to thrive in a complex and connected world. We have to accept this, master the disruptive breakthroughs as fast as possible and stay ahead by making optimum use of its capabilities for growing small businesses into global powerhouses. SMBs that are poised to come out of tough economic times on top will be those that learn how to use innovation to drive growth and productivity.

“Just like entrepreneurship is not for the weak at heart, innovation isn’t either, for it requires risk, a tolerance for failure and the ability to make a move on every brilliant idea that flies across your desk,” wrote Delaney.

Technology

Today, we need technology for continuous change and affordability. It has never been easier to test ideas quickly. For instance, mobile gadgets too will continue to get smaller and more powerful, bolstering the case that going global will be a prerequisite for long-term success.

In addition, cloud computing, the next new growth environment will play a big role for SMBs in application delivery. Someday, not too far off in the future, customers anywhere in the world with a mobile device will be able to text you their next big container order.

Global Entrepreneurship

Because the economic environment is so bad, the only thing you can count on in life is yourself, so everyone will not only think about whether they have the skill set for entrepreneurship but will jump into it as a new way of life.

She wrote, “Combine that mindset with the use of innovation and technology, and a heavy dose of determination to change the world, and you’ve got the ingredients for a global entrepreneurial revolution — a force not to be reckoned with.”

Sustainability Practices

According to Delaney, we will see more and more SMB owners committing themselves to sustainability strategies because they extend the efficiency and value of products and services. Improving social and environmental conditions is fast becoming the soul of a local or global SMB enterprise.

Green Initiatives

Being environmentally conscious is not only good for our well-being, it’s even better for our planet. So, we’ll see more green initiatives put into play in the future, and consumers will begin to expect it.

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Post FEI Doldrums: A Kick in the Asterisk*

The seminars are over, the conversations have gone silent, and we’ve all gone back to our work-a-day lives. Perhaps some messages got through from the show, and some items you’ve since taken back to study under the fluorescents.

This is where the real stuff happens.

The other 355 days [giving 10 days for show euphoria to wear off] is where we need to apply a new frame to an old challenge. We essentially need a kick in the asterisk* at least once a week. So, we’re here to provide that Shift-8 every so often.

These posts will be about what I’d expect you to be working on to solve the problems we have confronting us [as a global society]. Because we’ve got plenty of heads bobbling around atop bodies on this planet – we’d like to see some more output from anywhere and everywhere.

We will focus on sketching out the problem and making some connections between obscure subject areas. We will skew toward meaty, challenging problems but may wander into the barnyard of the obscure and irrelevant. We will use images and concepts to make these connections and perhaps offer ideas of our own to fuel the fire.

Then, we’ll socialize this and see where it goes.

Our small hope is that you will see these posts and say, “I got this one” and go forth to ideate and innovate. Or, you’ll pass it along to someone who knows more about the subject to listen to their perspective. Our big hope is that someone will be working on such a problem—or just solved it—and will submit his or her name to present at next year’s Front End of Innovation conference.  

These are the subjects we will be likely covering [if this isn’t enough, please add to our list by sending a message]:

-- Health and wellness

-- Sustainability

-- Poverty and hunger

-- Financial intelligence

-- Everyday frustrations

-- Transportation

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider our thoughts.

Aaron Keller is an author of two books on design, Design Matters: Logos and Design Matters: Packaging. He is also the co-founder of Capsule, a design innovation firm. He also writes for a variety of blogs from his modest desk and keyboard in Minneapolis, Mn.

Photo credit: Elegant Donkey (you can decide which one)

The Top 6 Ways to Guarantee a Successful Enterprise Software Pilot

Software pilots are tricky endeavors.  They are a crucial first step in the process of deploying an enterprise software technology solution.  You don’t want to commit full tilt until you’ve tested a technology.  Successful deployments have significant impacts upon companies, people and careers.  You want to get it right.

Whether you call it a pilot or a Proof of Concept (POC for short), Pilots may be “tricky” but there are 6 crucial steps to take to optimize your chances for success  

• Your software vendor partner can be your best friend.  Software vendors love pilots.  This is because they believe that once the software is in, it isn’t coming back out again.  Plus the vendor will have their people on site for the term of the pilot, ideally lobbying on behalf of flipping the pilot into an ongoing license.  The upside of this is that most software companies are not in the pilot business….they’re in the annual license business.  This means they’ll be working hard to help you make the pilot a success. 

This might be your first pilot of software of this type, but your software partner has gone through many pilots.  They have accumulated a number of best practices they can share.  They have the benefit of hindsight where they have seen the pitfalls where other clients have mis-stepped.  They can monitor the progress of your pilot and provide ongoing practical guidance to keep your pilot on track.  Of course everyone needs to agree on what that course is, hence the fact you should have a measurable goal for the pilot.

• The most important attribute of a successful pilot is to have a measurable goal.  That might seem obvious but so many neglect to attach one to the event.  I have heard of lots of pilots of enterprise social networks where there is no defined goal.  

You can’t just throw it out there, see who uses it and hope for the best.  Because if you do, you’ll get some early adopter types (those who enjoy using new technologies) to embrace it and no one else.  And even those early users will stop using it after a while if they don’t see others jumping in or if they don’t see results.  And senior team members won’t touch the software at all.  They’re afraid of it to begin with; are not anxious to learn something new, or for that matter to share anything, anyway.

When you do define the goals of the project, consider asking everyone on the team for input.  Establish the success criteria for the pilot, with input from all stakeholders.   Your chances for success are increased if not only do you achieve your goals with the pilot, but that everyone who participated in the process agrees those goals were meaningful and important.

A measurable goal lets you monitor the progress of the pilot and if you’re not hitting the mark, adjust your strategies to get on track.  It might be something as simple as measuring Adoption Rates(how many people are using it) or Engagement (the number of Contributions).  You can measure both activity and results.  Here are some examples of measurable results:

• How much content is shared and how often retrieved.
• How many customer interactions,
• How many client problems were solved
• How many new products were put into the pipeline
• How many tweaks to the customer engagement process were implemented as a result of customer feedback
• How many ideas
• How many good ideas were accrued during the pilot
• How many sales result from each communication  

But measure something. Because when the pilot is over you want to be able to answer the question: “Was the pilot successful?” with statistical results.  

• You should get the right crowd involved in your pilot.  I think we all can identify those “usual suspects” when we think about who would embrace new technologies.  There are always “early adopters” you can rely on to try out the software.  If you’re clever you can make certain these early adopters are spread throughout the organization into various geographies, departments and disciplines.  They can act as ambassadors to other users.  If the early adopters are advocates, you can exponentially grow your user community.     

Advocates or ambassadors can serve as support, trainers and cheerleaders. Equally they can provide feedback from the troops back to those responsible for managing the process.

 

Plus the users during the pilot can be your biggest supporters during roll out.

You should probably not limit your pilot to just a small number of users in one department (the usual inclination).  You want to optimize your chance for success.  This is a situation where rewards outweigh risks. Frequently champions for software want to limit the exposure of the pilot to their own department so if the pilot fails, the exposure will be minimal. But this can be a case of when a preconceived notion of failure might better be supplanted by a manifest destiny approach for success.  You want a positive outcome; why not take every measure you can to ensure success.

• You should constantly market to end users and management.  This means training, newsletters, email updates (with call to action links taking users into the system).  Management and users should hear good news and about successes. 

You should not only collect usage data, as well as the output of the software, but also the feedback from the user community about how to improve the software for eventual roll out.  Simple items like “I wish this link or item was on this screen” or “It would be easier to use if…” can inform the success of the actual and eventual roll out.  

• The time frame is critical.  You should keep it short, perhaps thirty to sixty days.  People will operate more effectively with a deadline.  Six months is way too long, long enough to have user interest ebb without the payoff of additional data accumulated.  Plus this helps subscribe to the notion of “fail fast”.  If the pilot is a mis step, then get it over quickly so you spend the minimum amount of money on it.  Similarly don’t allow “scope creep”.  You’ll get lots of suggestions from the user community which you absolutely should collect for consideration before roll out, but don’t let it slow down the pilot effort nor more importantly steer you away from achieving those measurable goals. 

Along with timeline and goals you should also add other rules. Think about what you want to achieve with the pilot and keep everyone within those parameters.  

• The next most important attribute of a successful pilot is senior management support. Of course you need a champion.  This is someone on your team who is a “believer”, who understand that using this software will improve your organization. This might be you! But if that champion is not senior enough, then you need a “higher-up” to buy in.

 

How important is this step?  Let’s put it this way, the very best pilot kick off speech I ever heard was when a Vice President at a Fortune 100 company got all the potential users in a room (some of the virtually) and merely said, “OK, thanks for coming.  I want you all to use this new software.  Dependent on the success of this project, my job is on the line, and that means yours is too.  Login, ask for help, start using the software and make this a success.”  Everyone got the message, there was a flurry of activity immediately and the project was a huge success.

Conclusion: 

1. Make sure you have your user community, your management and your software vendor involved in the project so they feel and act like partners.  
2. Solicit and gain consensus so you have a well publicized, measurable goal.   
3. Carry out the pilot within a short, defined time frame.   
4. Keep the lines of communication open to receive user feedback, to encourage adoption, and to publicize successes.

Ron Shulkin blogs researches and writes about enterprise technology focused on social media, innovation, voice of the customer, marketing automation and enterprise feedback management.  Ron Shulkin is Vice President of the Americas for CogniStreamer®, an innovation ecosystem.  CogniStreamer serves as a Knowledge Management System, Idea Management System and Social Network for Innovation.  You can learn more about CogniStreamer here http://bit.ly/ac3x60 .  Ron manages The Idea Management Group on LinkedIn (Join Here). You can follow him Twitter. You can follow his blogs at this Facebook group.  You can connect with Ron on LinkedIn.