Innovation is on, leading ideas to market

The global trend towards collaborative or open innovation is a hot topic which will be explored by top practitioners in the field. Skip Davis, VP of open innovation consultants NineSigma will be talking on 'Harnessing the wisdom of the crowd', while creative strategist Tim Malone will make the argument for organization-wide creative collaboration in a presentation titled 'The fuzzy front end'.

Anglo and Eskom will both be presenting case studies of open innovation in their organisations. To stimulate the development of commercially-viable technology, Anglo's new development fund is offering a R300 000 prize for the most promising new application for platinum group metals.

Delegates will get first hand experience of collaborative creativity at the summit's new feature, the Innovation Lab, which will function as both an experiential exhibition space and an idea factory.

As well as showcasing inventive installations from brands such as Gijima and BMGi, the lab will give companies the chance to tap into a global network of thousands of creative thinkers to find novel solutions to their real-life business challenges. It will be presided over by creative guru, Jan Van Mol, the Belgian-born founder of Ad!dict Creative Lab and a pioneer of open innovation.

Van Mol will also be stretching delegates' brains in lab sessions on breakthrough thinking and idea generation.

A major focus of the summit is the stimulation of local creativity and the transformation of new ideas into commercially-viable, socially-useful products and services.

Among those sharing their experiences of bringing ideas to market will be FNB Innovation programme manager Paul Steenkamp, Verimark founder Willie Van Straaten, Brian Steinhobel of the Steinhobel Group and William Gwata, the Zimbabwean scientist, accountant and inventor of a hugely-successful automatic pap-cooker.

The CSIR will also be presenting case studies of some of South Africa's most exciting and successful innovations.

Insight into the creation of entrepreneurs will be provided by Nigerian-born TV presenter and businesswoman, Moky Makura, author of 'The secrets of entrepreneurs', and Allon Raiz, radio and TV personality and CEO of Raizcorp, dedicated to incubating small businesses in Africa

The summit will also examine the burgeoning possibilities offered by the latest technology, from social networking to biomimcry to the prospect of quantum computing which will be explained by theoretical physicist Dr Frans Petruccione.

In line with its commitment to indigenous creativity and eco-friendly products, each delegate will receive a bag filled with the fruits of local innovation, including hand-made felt slippers produced by FLOCK, women in the town of Petrusville.

Sponsors, partners
This year's event will be hosted by the IDC, a leading partner through its Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII). It said it was confident this year's summit would provide "a significant launching ground for many iconic projects".

Other major partners are FNB, Anglo American and Gijima, BMGi. The summit also has other supporters, namely Novixo, the Development Bank of SA and Lemnis Lighting, one of the 10 top innovation companies in the world according to a recent survey.

The summit is jointly owned and organised by Sense2Sense and the Research Institute for Innovation and Sustainability (RIIS). Dr. Audrey Verhaeghe, CEO of RIIS and Itha Taljaard, CEO of Sense2Sense, said this year's event takes innovation capability building to new heights in South Africa. It offered an open call for papers and the public response was overwhelming.

For more information, go to www.innovationsummit.co.za.