Online Case Study Workshop: Accelerating Innovation Through Early-Stage Experimentation

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:

Early-stage experimentation offers a risk management approach that can dramatically accelerate cost-effective innovation. Experimentation relies on the scientific method to craft and test hypotheses. Insufficient guidance exists regarding how to help managers harness experimentation in early-stage innovation projects. Based on the study, the authors developed a process model that offers practitioners a structured and scalable approach to foster early-stage experimentation.

The authors analyzed four case studies where experienced experimenters worked with managers to use the experimentation process to reduce uncertainty in their innovation activities:

• Nike: a global athletic apparel company.
• Southwestern Railway (SWR): a joint venture operating extensive train network.
• Project Management Institute (PMI): a global project management association.
• MyHealthEd: a technology non-profit organization.

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: A Process Model for Early-Stage Experimentation to Accelerate Innovation.

Session format:

This session will feature a presentation and insights by:

• Professor Jeanne M. Liedtka, United Technologies Corporation Professor Emerita of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.
• Professor Stefano Magistretti, Associate Professor at the School of Management, Politecnico di Milano in Italy.

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) 

All IRI events are broadcast in Eastern Standard Time