Certificate Workshop: Innovation Portfolio Excellence for Manufacturers 

Manufacturers rarely face challenges due to a shortage of ideas; instead, difficulties often arise when limited talent, time, and resources are distributed across too many new product initiatives that may not deliver strong results. 

This workshop shows how innovation leaders improve returns in two ways: they identify new product opportunities with stronger customer value and clearer differentiation, and they make better portfolio and funding decisions so resources flow to the right projects at the right time.  Attendees will learn practical methods to uncover more attractive opportunities using market job maps, desired outcomes, and voice-of-customer evidence, then translate those insights into stronger value propositions and clearer competitive differentiation. They will also learn how to define strategic arenas, categorize project types, improve portfolio balance, and use AI-augmented Gates to make investment decisions with greater discipline and confidence. 

What you’ll gain from this workshop: 

Participants will leave with benchmark insights, practical tools, and a short list of actions they can apply immediately to strengthen their NPD pipeline and portfolio decisions. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to: 

• Diagnose why many NPD systems produce too many low-value projects and too few true winners. 

• Use market job maps, desired outcomes, and voice-of-customer evidence to identify stronger opportunities. 

• Convert customer insight into clearer value propositions and stronger competitive differentiation. 

• Apply practical guidelines to improve portfolio focus, prioritization, balance, and resource allocation. 

• Strengthen gate funding decisions with AI-supported analysis. 

• Leave with a near-term action plan to improve NPD effectiveness inside their own organization. 

Who should take this workshop? 

The session is designed for manufacturing leaders who want to improve growth from innovation without simply adding more projects or more spending. The course is designed for cross-functional innovation decision makers, including Gatekeepers, portfolio and product managers, and engineering and technical leaders involved in project and portfolio decisions.  

IRI members can earn a complementary certificate of completion by completing this workshop and a short follow-on activity that highlights how they plan to apply their learning. Non-members may also earn a certificate by completing the same steps for an additional fee. 

Registration Fees:

• IRI Members: $395
• Non Members: $495  

Each IRI member company has two complimentary passes for this event.

Get Your Member Comp Code

Due to limited seating, we request that you cancel at least 48 hours before a scheduled class. This gives us the opportunity to fill the class. However, if you do not cancel prior to the 48 hours, you will lose the payment for the class.

All IRI events are broadcast in Eastern Standard Time