The Kellogg Innovation Network is a meeting space for executives and business leaders who are determined to foster innovation in their organizations by exploring the latest trends in technology and business.
Every year they produce conferences and events that gather some of the worlds most prolific thought leaders and experts to share their insights in innovation, business, technology, artificial intelligence, corporate culture, leadership, analytics, supply chain, digital transformation, and more.
KIN Global is led by Robert Wolcott, a pubished author, keynote speaker, and professor at the Kellogg School of Management. The objective of these events is to share best practices and ideas on how businesses must innovate to ensure their success in the future. As the organizer, Mr. Welcott curates the topics being discussed by the event speakers and moderators.
The Future of Innovation
Typically, when an innovation initiative succeeds, company leaders react by asking: “What now?” They see it as confirmation, but also presents a new challenge to the innovation team-the difficulty of maintaining that same level of enthusiasm in the face of corporate and internal obstacles to innovating.
For one, many innovation initiatives cannot be scaled in a linear fashion. With more people, the complexity and bureaucracy increases, and the original innovation’s effectiveness in terms of communication and creativity diminishes.
Technology makes it easier to implement innovation strategies, but you can innovate any business model simply by making an adjustment to your process or product.
When looking to innovate, change isn’t always better, and some times things need to stay the way they are. What works now might not work in the future unless something has changed in the environment or market dynamic.
Innovation doesn’t mean that you want to put bad processes or products out there. In fact, putting good materials out there is what separates innovative companies from non-innovators.
What defines innovation is the ability to recognize problems and find solutions. By having all roles within the company understand why they are here and what it takes to achieve their goals, every person in the organization will be able to participate in the innovator cycle.
Digital Transformation
Some of the key topics explored by the keynote speakers at these events include how digital transformation must be made a priority. These days, doing business without innovative technology is impossible. All aspects of our lives are affected by it. Even your job could be at risk if you don’t keep up with these evolving technologies.
According to Arie de Geus, director of Center for Innovation & Disruption at Ernst & Young, ‘Technology is evolved rapidly enough to make people lose their jobs through automation within five years. And it starts with machine learning and artificial intelligence.’
If you work at any company with both employees and customers, there’s a good chance that you have been influenced by this approachable power of technology. It seems like every week someone else discovers how automated processes can improve the experience workers perform.
More often than not, advancements in technology serve to reduce human involvement. However, before we can enjoy those improvements, we must understand what they mean for our everyday roles.
Consider the impact of technology on truck drivers. Now imagine driving without a driver. You can do many things with modern technology. When machines cannot do them as well or as safely, they will replace humans.
At first, engineers modified existing systems to take advantage of technology. But now companies are investing more in research and development to come up with new products and services. This means there are more opportunities for growth and advancement.
Technology is changing the workforce faster than ever before, and future developments may continue to transform it further. So how should companies adapt to keep pace? This is what many of the speakers and thought leaders at the Kellogg Innovation Network explore.
Business Data
Another innovation topic being explored by the speakers and moderators at these events include the use of data. The way businesses use data has fundamentally changed since companies first started collecting it. Before, they would need to rely on person-power or statistics to estimate the amount of data they had. Today, there are tools that can measure how much data you have at your disposal so you don’t have to do this yourself.
Data is valuable because it enables better decisions by providing a complete picture of what needs to be considered. Without relying on human intuition or mathematical predictions, AI helps organizations make more informed decisions. By having access to as much information as possible, business leaders can make strategies and initiatives more effective.
Past Presentations
Here are some of the presentations and speeches given at past events hosted by the Kellogg Innovation Network: