 This strange but memorable pandemic year is coming to an end. Like any organization that has set clear goals and priorities, the Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club (KISMC) reports to its members with another successful year. At the National Valorization Conference that took place in Sofiа on 18.12.2020, KISMC was awarded a certificate of quality for the successful implementation of the project Boost Aid for Social Entrepreneurship through Training (BASET). Such awards were given to only 40 projects out of 1500 projects in total from different categories, and this project is the only one to receive the award in the field Adult Education. Since the very end of 2019 and in 2020, we've launched seven new projects under the Erasmus+ programme, remaining loyal to one of the most successful human resources development under EU programmes. Namely, these projects are:
In such a way for the last few years since its establishment, KISMC has joined as a partner or leading organization 15 projects in total under the Erasmus+ Programme, 6 of which are finalized successfully and 9 are undergoing. By joining these projects, we remain fully committed to the topics that we consider very important for the development of our country, namely knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship and, of course, the impact of new technologies and methods in these areas. Being also an active member of the Cluster Sofia Knowledge City, our organization KISMC supports with a part of its HR capacity three quite interesting and important projects that the cluster is realizing currently as a member of international partnerships, namely:
As a result, KISMC expanded its international presence in cooperation with over 20 new organizations from Europe, enriched its knowledge and experience in the field of knowledge management and innovation in SMEs, and developed and disseminated new useful methodologies, tools and good practices in these areas for the benefit of the Bulgarian business and the non-governmental sector.  In the first part of our guest post series, we talked about the common challenges companies face when transforming the company's culture. In this post, we’ll clarify how a dedicated innovation management tool can help drive more innovation in your organization. We’ll also introduce the most significant benefits you can achieve with the right tool. More ideas lead to more innovationSuccess in innovation requires a systematic process for generating, evaluating, prioritizing and validating new ideas. Although no tool will automatically make innovation happen, it can be a tremendous help in the process of turning new ideas into innovations. The right tool supports the entire innovation process from the beginning to the end and encourages employees to come up with more ideas. More ideas lead to more innovation, and although it’s the execution of those ideas that matters, generating new ideas is the first step towards any kind of progress. Benefits of an innovation management softwareA simple idea management tool is suitable for a wide range of different innovation activities to drive business results in your organization. Having just one versatile tool for managing ideas adds value to the process in several different ways. 1. Accessibility and real-time resultsDid you know that 97% of people get their ideas outside of the office? Because the majority of ideas are generated somewhere else than at work, you shouldn’t limit the possibilities to participate in the process. To get as many ideas as possible, innovation should be accessible for everyone regardless their location.  Compared to a physical suggestion box, for example, online tools allow people to submit ideas on the go and respond to feedback immediately. All employees can access the same information whenever they like. When they can see the real-time impact of their own activities, it may encourage them to be even more active in the future. 2. Increased transparencyThe biggest problem with closed suggestion boxes or traditional surveys is that they lack transparency. Once you submit your idea, you have no clue what will happen next and if your idea is ever going to be implemented. Although there is a time and place for gathering feedback via surveys, these types of closed methods aren’t the best options for continuous ideation. An innovation management tool increases transparency as you can see the status of each idea at one glance. People are going to be more willing to share their improvement suggestions when they know that their ideas will be seen and that they can affect the progress of their own ideas. Another benefit of a transparent tool is that it allows you to assign responsibility. When everyone knows who is working on a certain idea, the person responsible for the idea becomes more motivated to advance it. 3. Improved mobility and operationsThe right tool makes it easy to prioritize ideas and pick the right ones to progress. It helps you analyse your process to identify and eliminate bottlenecks. With the help of the right tool, you’ll be able to fix inefficiencies faster and more efficiently. This saves you time and money, increases your profitability and allows you to produce more of the results your customers demand.  When your entire team can evaluate, refine and develop ideas together, you’ll improve engagement, organizational learning, communication and the sense of fairness. 4. Cultural improvementsImproved transparency, communication and active collaboration are eventually going to have positive effects on the company's culture. One of the most important benefits is that an innovation management tool allows you to recognize and reward the most active participants. How you decide to reward your employees is entirely up to you, but you should always try to give positive feedback and acknowledge people for the improvements they’ve made. Positive feedback truly helps your employees thrive as it makes them feel their input is valued. This again can lead people to become more confident in their competence. When people feel they’re a valuable part of the continuous improvement process, they’re likely to keep giving better ideas. Wrapping up Although an innovation management tool brings a number of direct and indirect benefits to your innovation process and other parts of your business, implementing a dedicated tool only advances your business if the ideas are actually developed and put in practice. Innovation is a continuous process and the right tool helps manage it more effortlessly and effectively. If you don’t yet have a tool for managing ideas in your organization, you can now get started with Viima for free. This is the second part of Viima’s guest post series for KISMC. You can have a look at the first article where we talk about the common challenges organizations face when transforming the company's culture and how to overcome them. About the author  Julia Myllylä
Julia represents Viima, the best way to collect and develop ideas. Viima’s innovation management software is already loved by thousands of organizations all the way to the Global Fortune 500 and is free for up to 50 users. She’s passionate about helping leaders drive innovation in their organization and frequently writes on the topic, usually in Viima’s blog.  According to BCG’s Global Innovation Study, the biggest obstacles standing in the way of innovation are often related to company culture. Culture consists of various different aspects, such as ethics, values, collective beliefs, assumptions, working methods and standards, to name a few. Because culture is such an all-encompassing concept, it’s no surprise that many leaders face challenges when trying to shape their cultures to be more innovative. Although it can be almost impossible to avoid every hurdle in the process, what matters more is the ability to identify the most common bottlenecks to cultural change and to find ways to remove them. We’ve previously held a webinar to help you transform your company culture with innovation practices and have also written an article about this topic. This post extends the topic even more and focuses on introducing some of the common challenges companies face in cultural transformations, as well as practical tips for overcoming them. What is a culture of innovation?Although innovation means different things to different people, there are certain traits innovative teams share. According to The 2018 Global Innovation 1000 study, the high-leverage innovators have the following key characteristics: 1. They closely align innovation strategy with business strategy. 2. They create company-wide cultural support for innovation. 3. Their top leadership is highly involved with the innovation program. 4. They base innovation on direct insights from end-users. 5. They rigorously control project selection early in the innovation process. The best innovators excel at each of these first five characteristics and can integrate them to create unique customer experiences that can transform their market. What comes to company culture, you can tell a lot about a company and its culture by observing how people behave – especially when the boss isn’t around. Culture of innovation emphasizes on generating and implementing new ideas and is focused on making constant improvement in various areas of the business. Innovation is all about making progress on a company level as well as on a personal level. Therefore, the ideal culture for innovation supports constant learning and experimentation. Because culture is mainly shaped by people, often the most common challenges are also related to them. 1. Resistance to changeShaping peoples’ mindsets and attitudes can be challenging. Often, people have their own, fixed ways of seeing and doing things. While there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, those underlying beliefs and assumptions can sometimes hinder innovation. When things have been done in a certain way for a long time, it becomes the norm. This easily leads to people becoming blind to possible inefficiencies in their own work and commonly used processes. Things that have worked well in the past aren’t necessarily guaranteed to work in the future, which is why it’s important to constantly challenge your assumptions, be open to change and look for ways to improve the way you and your team work. Getting too content with how things are now has already proven to backfire in the long run. In addition to this, people can be resistant to change because they are afraid of failure. Being afraid of making a mistake is only natural as no one really wants to be responsible for something that didn’t go quite as planned. These types of attitudes, however, can be changed by creating an environment that embraces the “fail fast mentality”. Innovation involves almost always a certain amount of risk and uncertainty. Because not all ideas can be successful, it’s important to communicate that not all ideas are expected to work and it’s ok to fail as long as people are learning from it. Start with small victoriesGetting started with changing mindsets is often the hardest part. To succeed, it’s important to understand why people are against change. Often, the reason is that they don’t understand what change means for them. They might, for example, see innovation only as a requirement to work more but don’t necessarily see the possible positive impacts it can have on their work. Your job is to communicate how these changes affect your team in practice and most importantly, what’s in it for them. Help people understand why change is necessary for the continuity of the business and the well-being of the team. You can start by making small, gradual changes to the way your team works and focus on getting positive results fast. Consider picking those so called “low hanging fruits” first before announcing any major company-wide reforms. One way to start is to open the conversation by organizing an idea challenge, for example. Once you’ve gathered a few first positive experiences, people can see the upsides and are more likely to have a more open attitude towards improvements and new opportunities. 2. Not communicating the purposeMost of our time awake is spent at work. Without a larger purpose for what we’re doing, people can easily start seeing their job as just another pay check. It can also be difficult to get people give their best at all times. Without purpose, there’s no direction, and without direction, there’s really no chance of reaching your destination. By communicating purpose I’m not referring to giving a motivational speech or hanging inspirational quotes on the office walls. For people to find real fulfillment and meaning in their jobs, they must feel they are an important part of something that makes a real difference. In the context of creating an innovative culture, it’s important that people know why change is inevitable. If, for example, you’re operating in a declining industry, you simply have to renew in order to survive. It’s your responsibility to communicate what needs to be changed as well as what each individual should do for making this change happen. Create a movementCommunicating the purpose starts with clarifying your vision and turning that vision into a compelling story people are keen to be a part of. This helps convince people to align their actions towards the common goal and join the “movement”. If you were uncertain of the continuity of your business, you’d want to make sure your people understand that they need to keep improving their skills and knowledge on an individual level too. Even if your situation wasn’t as critical, you should still try to constantly learn more about your employees and what energizes and motivates them. Also, when hiring new people to your team, instead of only emphasizing skill, always look for qualities that can help advance your grand vision.  3. Rigid organisational structuresOrganizational structures are typically quite hierarchical, especially in larger organizations. Although having some form of hierarchy is necessary, it might also cause some bottlenecks for innovation if it restricts information flow. Often, middle management, which controls the information flow to and from the front line, ends up as that kind of a bottleneck. Even if managers would want to hear ideas from the front line, they are often too busy and thus end up prioritizing their current tasks over innovation. Typically, this sends a signal that the employees’ input isn’t appreciated, which again leads to decreased motivation to share any new ideas. Move decision-making closer to the front-lineInnovation should happen at all levels of the organization. When ideas need to go through several levels of management, there’s a risk that the feedback and evaluation process will slow down and become ineffective. For this reason, too high organizational barriers and hierarchy will eventually kill innovation. Communication shouldn’t just flow up but also down and across the organization. If middle managers have too much on their plate, they often only see short-term goals and constant pressure to hit their performance metrics, which leaves little room for long-term improvement. One way to overcome this challenge is to move decision making closer to the front-line. Managers could tell more about innovation from a larger perspective and direct the right type of activity by setting goals that support the right kind of change. To do that, managers need to trust their employees and let them execute their ideas but also provide them with certain limits in order to stay focused. Creating an innovative culture requires just the right amount of freedom and control. So, instead of having managers make all the decisions, you should give more responsibility to those who are willing to take it and are passionate about moving things forward. 4. Lack of commitment and reinforcementAnother reason why innovation culture efforts fail is low levels of managerial commitment. If innovation is seen as just an “extracurricular activity”, it easily gets in the way of daily tasks and routines. If management isn’t committed, employees aren’t likely to be either. Innovation isn’t just an activity for times when there’s nothing else to do. You need innovation to reach your goals now and in the long term. Innovation is like a habit; it takes time and effort to form one, but once it’s learned and integrated in the daily life, you’ll eventually start seeing desired results. Just like acquiring any positive habit, scattered and short-term efforts don’t last. Change rarely happens overnight and especially innovation requires a true shift in mindset as well as constant reinforcement. Although employees are coming up with new ideas all the time, the real challenge is to constantly harness those ideas to create more value. Keep offering interesting challenges to increase activity and excitement. If active employee involvement isn’t encouraged, you really can’t expect to see outstanding results because often, the amount of activity correlates with the outcomes. Tie innovation to actual ways of working and reward active participationTo get the best possible results, innovation should be tied to the actual ways of working and projects your teams are currently working on. This ensures that people are always making progress and learning while doing what they’re supposed to do. Introducing a few simple performance metrics can encourage people to keep improving the way they work. Be clear about the common company goals as well as how the input of each team and individual contributes to the big picture. Executive level is also eventually responsible for keeping the conversation active. Inspiring and innovative environment encourages rapid exchange of ideas both vertically and horizontally and constantly provides people with the right kinds of challenges. In order to keep the ideas flowing, always remember to reward the most active participants. Give credit for great effort and never underestimate the power of positive feedback. ConclusionBrian Chesky, the Co-founder and CEO of AirBnb, once said that culture is simply a shared way of doing something with passion. I think we can all agree, as it’s the people who have the real ability to make a culture great. Improving company culture should be everyone’s responsibility. Your culture doesn’t only concern those working for the company but has an impact on your customers as well. To be able to better serve your existing and potential clients, you want to keep your standards high and work hard towards creating better solutions and services for them because that’s what innovation is ultimately about. Although you might not be able to avoid all challenges when shaping your culture, you should try to approach them systematically. If you fail to see positive change, look for possible obstacles that might be standing in the way of innovation and start removing these obstacles one by one. This is the first part of Viima’s guest post series for KISMC. Stay tuned for the next article in which we’ll talk more about how the right tools and practices can help succeed in driving innovation in your organization. About the author  Julia Myllylä
Julia represents Viima, the best way to collect and develop ideas. Viima’s innovation management software is already loved by thousands of organizations all the way to the Global Fortune 500. She’s passionate about helping leaders drive innovation in their organization and frequently writes on the topic, usually in Viima’s blog.  The international conference "Digital Skills & Innovation @2030" that took place on 11 July 2018 in Sofia, Bulgaria was attended by more than 150 delegates from various countries. The event was organised by the two partners of the "Design Thinking for Digital Innovation' Project - DigiThink No. 2016-1-BG01-KA203-023719 - KISMC and ULSIT, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The conference was organised to reveal the results of the 2-years DigiThink project, where 6 organisations were working together: KISMC - Bulgaria, State University of Library Studies and IT - Bulgaria, University of Deusto - Spain, Tecnalia - Spain, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra - Slovakia, Training 2000 - Italy. In addition to that, the international conference "Digital Skills & Innovation @2030" brought together innovation and digital experts, entrepreneurs, investors, academicians, professionals and stakeholders in the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. During the event like-minded people had the opportunity to exchange views on various topics in the digital, innovation and entrepreneurship space and discuss potential collaboration. After months of preparation and hard work during the conference all DigiThink project partners shared the results of the project, whereas the conference had amazing speakers from the UK, Spain, Italy, Romania, the Netherlands, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Moreover, the conference had a workshop panel during which all delegates had a chance to participate in a competition game for design thinking, focused on the digitization and transformation of Sofia into a smart city and during the process they had to generate and share ideas and solutions in this direction. The event was full of excitement, great networking over glasses of wine and plenty of follow ups bringing potential opportunities for everyone. If you didn't have a chance to join us at this illuminating event, we have recapped it in 13 interesting insights from the speakers, therefore please check them out below: 1. Design Thinking for DigiThinkAn approach based on Design Thinking was followed in the “Digithink” Project.
 Source: University of Deusto
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1. Innovation for collaboration needs a structured process
Innovation plays a focal role in the university and business collaboration BUT this role needs to be structured the same way innovation is a systematic process. Therefore, after trials and erros for 2 years the APInno project established an innovation management methodology which is based on expriential learning in order to bridge the large gap between what workforce universities 'produce' and what companies actually need. The methodology shows us that from the messy idea generation moment through concept development and pipeline management, execution and implementation have to follow.
2. The university model requires a fundamental change
The public is already beginning to question the value higher education provides to society. It is obvious that things need to change as we can all observe how students have troubles finding appropriate jobs after graduating and trying to settle their debts which they took to be able to study at a university. Therefore, instead of making money and contributing to the economy, students waste time and incur expenses. Yes, the university model needs to be fundamentally altered so they could feed businesses with the energy and enthusiasm of skillful employees ready to 'fight' in a competitive world where innovation is not only a buzz word but reality.
3. Innovation is not about technology at all
We see new mindsets, new generations, new organisations appearing on the horizon. We also see new markets emerging. The world has moved from having thousands of businesses each with millions of customers to millions of businesses with hundreds of thousands of customers. This is a result from shifting to technology-supported industries. However, innovation is not about technology at all, it is about how we efficiently and effectively use what we have in order to produce value for ourselves and others.
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4. Design thinking - a buzz word for business success?
Perhaps most people have already observed that creativity and innovation have become buzzwords for business success, followed by terms such as ‘Design Thinking’ creeping into business education. However, some research shows us that there is around 20% decline in creative capacity of learners in the past 20 years. In an era when creativity is in demand, we need to first understand the creative thinking process and the difference between implementation (doing things that are determined by others and matching against their expectations) and innovation (producing multiple and varied solutions that respond to change and often surprise).
5. Entrepreneurs have to focus on designing
The entrepreneurial journey is simple: starts from an idea, right through a business model to the business plan. However, entrepreneurs need to take into consideration the market desirability, financial viability and technical feasibility of the business they are trying to establish. Therefore, designing a business model is the essence of a business opportunity, whether it is to be pursued in a start-up, corporate venturing or social entrepreneurial setting.
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6. Balance the academic and commercial interests
Universities are a great source for technological opportunities for creating high-technology ventures. Despite that, universities are generally characterized as having weak capabilities for the development of commercial applications. The academic culture values getting its hands on research, but the commercial and entrepreneurial aspect comes right outside it and this is a sensitive issue. Academia has to develop not only creative and confident minds but commercially oriented graduates prepared for the business challenges they will come across.
7. Internships and real work for students is a must
The APInno project has proven once again the importance of business and academia partnership. But the collaboration focuses on the topic of innovation and this has brought new amazing ideas for future work on assisting the two parties. The project sets out important points to look at, for example, how such collaboration can accelerate the university-work transition for students through internships and how setting real innovation challenges to be solved by students could be a real asset for businesses. Indeed, it's a win-win for everyone.
Don’t miss out on a conference programme featuring speakers from the UK, Spain, South Africa, Romania and Bulgaria who have international exprience in various industries in the area of innovation, entrepreneurship and education.
The event is almost fully booked and we don’t want you to miss out on this opportunity where you have the chance to not only get into great discussions Innovation in Education & Education in Innovation, but play games and network with over 150 guests from 15+ countries.
The event is almost fully booked and we don’t want you to miss out on this opportunity where you have the chance to not only get into great discussions Innovation in Education & Education in Innovation, but play games and network with over 150 guests from 15+ countries.
With only a few days until the "INNOVATION - Creating the Future" conference opens its doors on 21 November 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria, there are still 18 places left (at the time of speaking). Of course, if these are taken up fast, then you would get on our reserve list and wait until someone already registered drops out. Therefore, you could still have a chance to make the most of such an event and network with all the international delegates on coffee, lunch and a glass of wine by REGISTERING NOW.
Having in mind that the conference does not have a registration fee, all you need to do is hurry up and go to the event page, review the information and register as soon as possible in order to secure your spot at the conference.
REMINDER: The conference registration is by 17 November 2016
The focus of "Innovation - Creating the Future" would be on opportunities and challenges businesses and universities face in working together for mutual benefits. It will give you the opportunity be to contribute to a positive change in the business-university collaboration through innovation.
In this blog publication we are presenting the discussion panels speakers of the international conference "INNOVATION - Creating the Future" which will take place on 21 November 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
We have experts and professionals with experience in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship, new business model generation, knowledge management, open innovation and social innovation, design thinking, R&D, business development, startups, NGOs, etc. In the meantime, if you are also curious to review the experience of our keynote speakers, you can find more information here.
With the event approaching in less than a week and registration closing on 17 November, you can review the speakers at the two discussion panels Innovation in Education & Education in Innovation below and decide if you would like to come and meet all the speakers and international guests from over 15 countries (the number keeps growing with every post we write).
We have experts and professionals with experience in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship, new business model generation, knowledge management, open innovation and social innovation, design thinking, R&D, business development, startups, NGOs, etc. In the meantime, if you are also curious to review the experience of our keynote speakers, you can find more information here.
With the event approaching in less than a week and registration closing on 17 November, you can review the speakers at the two discussion panels Innovation in Education & Education in Innovation below and decide if you would like to come and meet all the speakers and international guests from over 15 countries (the number keeps growing with every post we write).
- Innovation in Education - best innovation practices in education and the contribution of businesses to the business-university collaboration
- Education in Innovation - best practices of education contributing to the business innovation and collaboration of academia with organisations
Innovation in Education
Estíbaliz Hernandez is a researcher at Mondragon Innovation & Knowledge (MIK), the research center for organizational management of Mondragon Corporation and is also the Director of the Degree in Business Administration at the Faculty of Business of Mondragon University (Basque Country, Spain), where she is a lecturer too. Both MIK and the University of Mondragon are part of the Mondragon Corporation, a leading Spanish business group, integrated by 250 business cooperatives with presence in 41 countries that employs more than 80 000 people. Her research has been mainly conducted in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship, new business model generation and knowledge management. She is a PhDc in the domain of User Driven Innovation in Service Industries, and holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Deusto (Spain) and the Hoge Hotelschool Maastricht (Holland) and an MBA Master from the University of Mondragon (Spain).
Pilar Tovar is a Social Educator and Educational Psychologist who works at Fondo Formación Euskadi (Trápaga, Basque Country). She holds a Master Degree on Human Resources and a Master Degree (with Honours) on Social Innovation and Culture Industries and is also an expert on Community Correct Process (PROCC Methodology). For several years, she has jointly been leading Demola Basque Country node as part of the Demola network: a co-creation and open innovation project. Pilar, along with her team, guides companies and students by giving them the opportunity to work together, learn from each other and develop new joint solutions (DEMOS) in a highly innovative environment. As a coach, mentor and facilitator of these projects, she designs her own tools and methodology in social business (Value creation proposition) and open innovation ("Design Thinking", "Thinking out of the box", "learning by doing and solving problems"). Pilar is also a social entrepreneur. For years she has been leading projects with schools, Public Care centers and the Community in healthy diet, launching building relationship promoting social Cohesion, networks, etc.
Magda Ropotan is an Innovation Consultant and Design Thinking Facilitator from Romania. After 13 years of working in human resources for large corporations, such as Honeywell, Genpact and IKEA, both in Romania and internationally, Magda moved into consultancy, supporting companies to innovate organically through the creativity and involvement of their own employees. Her clients range throughout Europe for whom she facilitates innovation projects, training, coaching and consultancy for their innovation strategy. She is also teaching innovation classes within several entrepreneurship education programs in Romania. Magda holds a degree in Robotics Engineering and studied about innovation, foresight, design thinking and trends in Silicon Valley, Denmark and Netherlands.
Watch the conference video now!
Education in Innovation
Ruslan Papazyan is the Regional Managing Director of Trelleborg Sealing Solutions responsible for Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Serbia, Belarus, Ukraine and is also Head of Trelleborg’s Export Markets in South-East Europe, Middle East and Africa. Before joining Trelleborg he held various positions in ABB Sweden such as manager business development, group manager R&D and R&D project manager. He graduated the Electrical Engineering Department of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden as a Doctor of Science. Ruslan also won a prize for best R&D in the field of maintenance techniques for the electric power industry from the Swedish Electrical Utilities' R&D Company - ELFORSK. He holds an MBA from the University of Sheffield and had been rewarded “Next Generation Manager” amongst 54 Bulgarian managers.
Steve Stott is an experienced offline and online multi-channel retailer with a passion for helping people succeed with over 20 years multi-level retail experience providing support, training and motivation to start-ups and growth companies. Having set up and ran a successful online business he understands the unpredictable world of running your own business. Steve is currently offering business consultation in collaboration with DEW (Developing Entrepreneurial Winners).
Svetlana Lomeva was appointed Director of the Sofia Development Association by the Sofia Municipal Council. She holds an MA degree in Political Science from Sofia University. She has been Deputy Minister of Education, Youth, and Science (2009 – 2010). Mrs. Lomeva is one of the founders and Director of the Bulgarian School of Politics (2001 – 2009) and the Political Academy for Central and Southeastern Europe. Svetlana has had several specialisations at Robert Schumann Institute, Budapest; the American University in Bulgaria; the Council of Europe.
The APInno team behind the international conference "INNOVATION - Creating the Future" which will take place on 21 November 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria is pleased to have amazing speakers with diverse backgrounds and experience in innovation, entrepreneurship and education.
In this blog post we are showcasing the keynote speakers and their experience while we will still have a publication about our speakers at the discussion and games panels. Although you would notice that most speakers are representing universities, all of them have a broad industry exprience ranging from starting businesses on a variety of continents to management exprience in the creative and hospitality sector, aerospace and electronics to leading institutions commercialising innovation. In addition to the industry practice, our keynote speakers provide trainings and lectures in areas such as entrepreneurship, innovation management, cultural management, design thinking, 3D printing and others.
Our 6 speakers are either former or current Innovation Managers, Entrepreneurs, Senior Managers, Directors, CEOs, Trainers and Researchers. Therefore, you would be able to hear every side of how to make innovation happen.
Take a closer look below to find your added value in the conference where you would not only listen to the speeches, but where you could take part in the discussions and meet all the speakers and international guests from over 12 countries.
In this blog post we are showcasing the keynote speakers and their experience while we will still have a publication about our speakers at the discussion and games panels. Although you would notice that most speakers are representing universities, all of them have a broad industry exprience ranging from starting businesses on a variety of continents to management exprience in the creative and hospitality sector, aerospace and electronics to leading institutions commercialising innovation. In addition to the industry practice, our keynote speakers provide trainings and lectures in areas such as entrepreneurship, innovation management, cultural management, design thinking, 3D printing and others.
Our 6 speakers are either former or current Innovation Managers, Entrepreneurs, Senior Managers, Directors, CEOs, Trainers and Researchers. Therefore, you would be able to hear every side of how to make innovation happen.
Take a closer look below to find your added value in the conference where you would not only listen to the speeches, but where you could take part in the discussions and meet all the speakers and international guests from over 12 countries.
Keynote Speakers
1. Dr. Simon Best - Middlesex University, United Kingdom
Simon is a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University Business School. He is the Programme Leader for the M.Sc. Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship and the Project Leader of EDH@MDX, the enterprise development hub. He is also the university lead for APInno and SBeA, two Erasmus funded projects. Alongside these roles Simon is a Teaching Fellow. Simon has been involved in entrepreneurship on a global scale. Over a period of 30 years he has started businesses in India, Viet Nam, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Simon has also been a consultant to small and medium businesses in Japan, Taiwan, India, South Africa and Viet Nam. More recently he has been delivering workshops and seminars in Hungary, USA and Viet Nam to emerging entrepreneurs.
Simon is a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University Business School. He is the Programme Leader for the M.Sc. Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship and the Project Leader of EDH@MDX, the enterprise development hub. He is also the university lead for APInno and SBeA, two Erasmus funded projects. Alongside these roles Simon is a Teaching Fellow. Simon has been involved in entrepreneurship on a global scale. Over a period of 30 years he has started businesses in India, Viet Nam, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Simon has also been a consultant to small and medium businesses in Japan, Taiwan, India, South Africa and Viet Nam. More recently he has been delivering workshops and seminars in Hungary, USA and Viet Nam to emerging entrepreneurs.
2. Prof. Andy Penaluna - University of Wales Trinity Saint David, United Kingdom
An international thought leader in developing enterprising creativity through education, Andy has advised Welsh Assembly and Westminster Governments and is an expert at the United Nations in Geneva. He has led discussions at the European Commission, developed teacher training for 8 countries in South East Europe, and was commissioned by the OECD to write international education policy guidance. Funded by the World Bank, he also led the development of what is believed to be the world’s first integrated (compulsory) school curriculum for innovation and entrepreneurship in Macedonia (FYROM).
An international thought leader in developing enterprising creativity through education, Andy has advised Welsh Assembly and Westminster Governments and is an expert at the United Nations in Geneva. He has led discussions at the European Commission, developed teacher training for 8 countries in South East Europe, and was commissioned by the OECD to write international education policy guidance. Funded by the World Bank, he also led the development of what is believed to be the world’s first integrated (compulsory) school curriculum for innovation and entrepreneurship in Macedonia (FYROM).
3. Dr. Zuleika Beavan - Middlesex University, United Kingdom
Zuleika has more than two decades of experience in the creative industries and she was a senior lecturer in Arts Management at the Arts University Bournemouth, taught on the MA in Cultural Management at the University of Winchester and was a researcher in the Cultural Management Applied Research Group at the University of Greenwich. Drawing on her research focus of work in the music business, Zuleika's PhD was a longitudinal study of musician start-ups. She also has an interest in the effects of technology on the industry and is carrying out a Research Council-funded case study of a Kickstarter-supported album recording and release.
Zuleika has more than two decades of experience in the creative industries and she was a senior lecturer in Arts Management at the Arts University Bournemouth, taught on the MA in Cultural Management at the University of Winchester and was a researcher in the Cultural Management Applied Research Group at the University of Greenwich. Drawing on her research focus of work in the music business, Zuleika's PhD was a longitudinal study of musician start-ups. She also has an interest in the effects of technology on the industry and is carrying out a Research Council-funded case study of a Kickstarter-supported album recording and release.
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4. Eduardo Díaz - Fundacion madri+d, Spain
Eduardo is currently in charge of the new technology-based firms unit at Fundacion madri+d. He is a former Innovation Manager consultant and university lecturer. Eduardo is an expert in the fields of startups, innovation, regional development, technology auditing, technology transfer and cluster policies and he also has technical and management experience in the electronics and aerospace sectors. Eduardo is coordinating regional, national and international programmes in the fields of Entrepreneurship, Startup Funding, Venture Mentoring and R&D Commercialisation including Innovation and Entrepreneurship studies and publications.
Eduardo is currently in charge of the new technology-based firms unit at Fundacion madri+d. He is a former Innovation Manager consultant and university lecturer. Eduardo is an expert in the fields of startups, innovation, regional development, technology auditing, technology transfer and cluster policies and he also has technical and management experience in the electronics and aerospace sectors. Eduardo is coordinating regional, national and international programmes in the fields of Entrepreneurship, Startup Funding, Venture Mentoring and R&D Commercialisation including Innovation and Entrepreneurship studies and publications.
5. Raluca Pauna - Institute of Inventors and Innovators, South Africa
Raluca is the director of the Institute of Inventors and Innovators and EgoliBio incubator/SEDA in South Africa as well as the CEO of the Global Institute of Accelerating Innovation. Having started her career in Romania working at Government Ministerial Departments and at the Research Institute of Fine Mechanics and Instruments, Raluca took on an international career as a member of the EU Leadership Thinking Tank in Brussels and then onto TECHNONET AFRICA, a network for supporting Africa's entrepreneurs. She is qualified (Stanford, CA) to do Design Thinking sessions and focused trainings for emerging innovators and entrepreneurs such as Innovation Management, Technical Entrepreneurship, Strategic and Marketing Planning for Commercialisation of Innovation and applied Competitive Technical intelligence methodologies and tools. Raluca has also been an IBM International mentor for the IBM Global Entrepreneurship Programme since 2013 and was a judge in the panel of judges for the Innovation Summit Garage at Cape Town Competition 2014. At present she is also organizing 3D printing training using design thinking methodology in collaboration with VUT.
Raluca is the director of the Institute of Inventors and Innovators and EgoliBio incubator/SEDA in South Africa as well as the CEO of the Global Institute of Accelerating Innovation. Having started her career in Romania working at Government Ministerial Departments and at the Research Institute of Fine Mechanics and Instruments, Raluca took on an international career as a member of the EU Leadership Thinking Tank in Brussels and then onto TECHNONET AFRICA, a network for supporting Africa's entrepreneurs. She is qualified (Stanford, CA) to do Design Thinking sessions and focused trainings for emerging innovators and entrepreneurs such as Innovation Management, Technical Entrepreneurship, Strategic and Marketing Planning for Commercialisation of Innovation and applied Competitive Technical intelligence methodologies and tools. Raluca has also been an IBM International mentor for the IBM Global Entrepreneurship Programme since 2013 and was a judge in the panel of judges for the Innovation Summit Garage at Cape Town Competition 2014. At present she is also organizing 3D printing training using design thinking methodology in collaboration with VUT.
6. Prof. Dimo Dimov - University of Bath, United Kingdom
Dimo is a professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the School of Management, University of Bath. He has recently been recognised as one of the 100 leading entrepreneurship professors for 2015. Prior to joining the University of Bath, in 2012, Dimo was on the Entrepreneurship faculty at Newcastle University, on the Management faculty at University of Connecticut and on the Entrepreneurship faculty at IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. Prior to entering academia, he enjoyed a career in the hospitality industry with Marriott International and was a finance director for two hotel businesses in Budapest, Hungary.
Dimo is a professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the School of Management, University of Bath. He has recently been recognised as one of the 100 leading entrepreneurship professors for 2015. Prior to joining the University of Bath, in 2012, Dimo was on the Entrepreneurship faculty at Newcastle University, on the Management faculty at University of Connecticut and on the Entrepreneurship faculty at IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. Prior to entering academia, he enjoyed a career in the hospitality industry with Marriott International and was a finance director for two hotel businesses in Budapest, Hungary.
It's Time...
With the “Innovation – Creating the Future” conference approaching, we advise you to register as soon as possible because places are filling up fast. We would like to remind you that there is no participation fee and you can REVIEW THE CONFERENCE INFORMATION and REGISTER HERE
On 25 October 2016 the Sofia City of Knowledge Cluster (SCKC) was established where the Knowledge, Innovation and Strategies Management Club is one of the 26 founding members.
The initiative of founding the cluster is a common endeavor of a group of entitites located in Sofia such as science, education and business representatives which are all supported by the Sofia Municipality in response to the need of creating conditions for the implementation of the Strategy for Smart Specialisation of Sofia.
The SCKC aims at transforming the city into a national and regional centre for education, advanced research, innovation and entrepreneurship based on information and communication technologies.
The initiative of founding the cluster is a common endeavor of a group of entitites located in Sofia such as science, education and business representatives which are all supported by the Sofia Municipality in response to the need of creating conditions for the implementation of the Strategy for Smart Specialisation of Sofia.
The SCKC aims at transforming the city into a national and regional centre for education, advanced research, innovation and entrepreneurship based on information and communication technologies.
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