This 75-minute interactive professional development session is designed to prompt conversations among R&D, innovation, and technology management practitioners on how exemplary cases of innovation can help them approach and think about innovation in their own contexts. This session is built around active participation, so expect to collaborate, analyze, and discuss as you explore innovation case studies.
Session topic:
Fostering an organizational culture that promotes learning is essential for driving innovation. This learning takes place both formally, through structured programs like workshops and training sessions, and informally, via daily work activities and interactions among colleagues. Such cultures are characterized by openness to new ideas, a willingness to experiment, and the acceptance of failure as a learning opportunity. These cultures also encourage recognizing and learning from mistakes, promoting collaboration, and supporting a people-oriented approach.
The session will feature three case studies focused on similarly sized Dutch small- to medium-sized manufacturing companies, each with an ongoing initiative to foster an organizational learning culture.
This professional development session is offered in collaboration with the Research-Technology Management (RTM) Journal. We encourage you to read the RTM article that discusses the case studies before the session: The Role of Formal and Informal Learning in Developing an Organizational Learning Culture.
Session format:
This session will feature a presentation and insights by:
- Professor Désirée A. Laubengaier, Assistant Professor of Strategic Management at School of Business and Economics of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
- Daryl J. Powell, KONGSBERG Chair Professor of production management at the University of South-Eastern Norway and a senior advisor at SINTEF Manufacturing.
The participants will then be assigned to small groups and tasked with discussing and identifying common challenges, available methods, and creative solutions related to the session’s case study and theme. The attendees will return to the plenary and engage in a facilitated conversation to share key takeaways from their small-group discussions, highlighting areas of convergence and divergence and connecting the session’s takeaways back to their work.
This professional development session is designed for current IRI members only. If you are not a member, please contact Clayton Warnke (cwarnke@nam.org) portfolio decisions.
