Participants on the Innovation SET & GO program reaped the rewards of being on the Innovation READY program last year. Gaining access to expert advice from a panel of commercialisation gurus as part of the SET & GO portion of the program.
One participant has even gone further in their innovation journey – creating their own innovation pipeline in collaboration with our research partner the University of Auckland’s School of Business.
What is the buzz all about?
Our industry needs to prepare for disruption because the current pace of change in technology is mind-numbing!
It’s crucial for an organisation to get comfortable with failure, become more creative in their solutions and more adaptable in their approach to solving client problems. If you want to be a forward thinking organisation, a mindset of growth and innovation is required for future survival.
And, this is very much the essence of our Innovation READY, SET & GO program which helps attendees development these skills in-house. Starting with the READY segment which introduces guiding principles of innovation before progressing on to work closely with members to firmly embed those principles into their organisation.
The in’s and outs of the SET & GO phase of our program
Launched this year, it takes participants through a tailored mentoring and support process during their commercialisation journey.
Part of this is our advisory panel meeting which was held in April. Consisting of a panel of experts from the University of Auckland and Callaghan Innovation who listened to project pitches. Providing advice, which means that our participants are now well on their way to implementing the learnings from the advisory panel feedback.
We also ran a workshop in April on Industry future roadmapping facilitated by Dr. Elisabeth Krull, a specialist in and strategic and technology roadmapping from the University of Auckland business school. For the first time, this event brought together industry representatives from our membership to inform the future our industry should be heading into.
It’s the first time we’ve had industry driven engagement into thinking about our future. The day also covering valuable information on how to share IP safely by University of Auckland Professor, Dr Peter Lee. And, a ‘stop and think’ talk by Dr Olaf Diegel on when to use or not use 3D printing technology.
Case studies from our membership – Page & Macrae
Page & Macrae have developed their own ‘innovation pipeline’ to run their innovation ideas through a well-defined process. Bringing a solid structure to their way of doing in-house innovation. They’ll get support from five teams of mature professional students from the University of Auckland entrepreneurship and commercialisation school of business to develop this pipeline for them.
The go-getter attitude of firms on the Ready, Set, Go path has created a wave of activities and opportunities for them. So far, they’ve received free tickets to innovation conferences, networking events and a connection with other like-minded companies to build out their feedback loop and get to market quicker.
Many are already gaining attention and traction in the wider innovation circle which is further adding to their base of competencies in innovation management.
It’s becoming clear through this type of recognition that our innovators are getting return on their investment that will be benefit them for years to come.
This future is possible for all of our members and the time to invest in it is now!
Register for the Innovation READY program and become part of the new generation of firms getting ready for a rapidly changing tomorrow.
Not doing so WILL leave you behind – and you can’t afford to do this! That’s because standing still is not only dangerous for you as a business, but for our industry as a whole.
Have some questions? Contact our General Manager Industry Development Dr Boaz Habib.