Next-Gen Innovation: Prepare for the future!
From December 3-4 in Orlando, FL, we will delve into practical, actionable steps you can take today to prepare for the changes anticipated (and unanticipated) in the near future. Turning insights that you glean from experts, consultants, and monitoring weak signals into action is a daunting task. IRI’s aim with our Innovating the Future event is to help you plan out your actions from the conference while you’re there. Following each insightful presentation, you will have an opportunity to poke and explore each topic with your peers and discuss how it will impact you, your company, and your industry. When you return to the office, you’ll have fresh ideas along with the plan to actually implement them.
- WHY ATTEND
- AGENDA
- SPEAKERS
- HOTEL
- PARTNERS
- KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
- CTO Forum
What to Expect at Innovating the Future:
- AI-Driven Innovation: Explore how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the landscape of innovation and driving transformative change across industry.
- Labs of the Future: Discover the cutting-edge advancements and visionary concepts shaping the labs of tomorrow.
- Sustainable Innovation: Learn about innovative strategies and technologies fostering sustainability, turning environmental challenges into opportunities for growth.
- Future-Ready Workforce: Gain insights into preparing your workforce for future demands, focusing on the skills and adaptability needed for tomorrow’s challenges.
- Next-Generation Customers: Understand how to track the evolving needs and trends of future customers, and how to anticipate and meet their expectations effectively.
Join fellow innovation professionals at this impactful event to explore strategies and technologies driving innovation, sustainability, and intelligence. Engage in discussions, share insights, and develop actionable strategies. Key takeaways include planning for AI-driven changes, promoting sustainability as an innovation opportunity, and laying the framework for developing your future workforce. The agenda maximizes collaboration and networking, ensuring valuable connections and insights.
What You Will Gain
Build Relationships: Connect with subject matter experts, industry leaders, and fellow innovators during formal and informal networking time.
Collaborate: Find your next partner, big idea, or solution to a challenge during collaborative sessions.
Get Cutting-Edge Insights: Straight from the experts, get a combination of high-level perspective and practical action items you can apply to your organization.
Meet the Experts: Rub elbows with keynotes and other top innovators during facilitated sessions.
Get Practical with AI: Start preparing now for the changes that AI will bring to the way we work.
Gain Action Steps for Sustainability: Hear how leading organizations are preparing for the next level of sustainability needs.
Get Prepared: Develop practical steps to prepare for the future and gain confidence in your ability to prepare for the unexpected.
Future Workforce: Determine the structures that you need now to develop the workforce that you will need in the future.
| Tuesday, December 3 |
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| 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Welcome Reception |
| Wednesday, December 4 |
| 7:15 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Breakfast |
| 8:00 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks |
| 8:15 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Opening Keynote: Innovating the Future How do you turn insights that you’ve gleaned about the future into actionable steps? This panel discussion will highlight the ways in which forward looking organizations approach this daunting task, from their methods for gathering insights to their efforts to cascade actions through the organization. Panelists: Ami Gupta, Chief Technology Officer, Linde Gases and Vice President, Linde Laurence Du-Thumm, Global Senior Director, External Technology Innovation R&D, Colgate-Palmolive Moderator: Todd Boppell, COO, NAM |
| 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Interactive session: Looking to the Future with Purpose Learn about the core capabilities and competencies required to do futures work well, then work with your peers to explore and consider the right methods for your organization and the best ways to implement and roll them out. Facilitator: Tom Culver, Senior Innovation Advisor, RTI and Emily Vernon, Innovation Advisor, RTI |
| 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Networking Break |
| 10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. AI and Innovation Hear how different companies are working to enable innovation and R&D using current and future AI technologies. Panelists: C.J. Ryavec, IT Platform Leader for R&D, Owens Corning Mark Donavon, Builder/Maker/Creative/Inventor/Innovator and former Head of Digital Strategy and Ecosystem Development, Nestle Purina Petcare, and Jason Joyce, Director Data Engineering and Analytics, Colgate-Palmolive Moderator: Alki Iliopoulou, Innovation Strategist, InterSystems |
| 11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Interactive Session: Visions of the Lab of the Future This interactive session brings R&D leaders together to explore the evolution of laboratories and what it takes to build and sustain a successful lab of the future. Noel will guide participants through essential trends and emerging capabilities in R&D, with a primary focus on AI technology as a transformative force in labs of the future. Through this discussion, gain insights into how AI and advanced technologies are shaping the new standard of lab operations, defining competitive advantage, and establishing frameworks for future-proofing your R&D infrastructure. Prepare for what’s next in lab innovation and take away actionable strategies to ensure your lab is ready for the advancements that lie ahead. Facilitator: Noel Hollingsworth, CEO and Co-founder, Uncountable, Inc. |
| 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Networking Lunch |
| 1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Sustainable Horizons: Navigating the Future How are companies planning for their own future sustainability needs and goals as well as those of their customers? Hear Albemarle’s approach. Speaker: Wesley Hamilton, CTO/Vice President Research and Technology – Specialties GBU, Albemarle Corporation |
| 1:45 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Interactive Session: Future-Proofing Sustainability Explore how regulatory challenges and co-innovation can drive sustainable innovation and reshape business models. Engage in collaborative discussions to identify actionable strategies for leveraging partnerships to transform sustainability from a compliance requirement into a competitive advantage. Facilitator: Denny Ard, Partner/National Director of Innovation, Forvis Mazars |
| 2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Networking Break |
| 3:00 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Customer of the Future How do you create intimacy with your customers of the future? Explore the tools and techniques available today that will help you better understand customers of tomorrow. Speaker: Mark Donavon, Builder/Maker/Creative/Inventor/Innovator and Head of Digital Strategy and Ecosystem Development, Nestle Purina Petcare (retired) |
| 3:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Interactive Session: Exploring Future Customer Needs What mechanisms do you have in place to work toward identifying future customer desires? How are you making them actionable? This interactive session will help you work toward a plan for creating new mechanisms. Facilitator: Lee Green, AVP, Content and Strategy, IRI |
| 4:30 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. Closing Keynote: The Power of People Analytics – What’s Happening Now and What’s to Come What can the data available today tell us about the next generation of innovation and R&D professionals? Speaker: Fiona Jamison, CEO, Spring International |
| 5:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Closing Remarks |
| 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Networking Reception |
| Thursday, December 5 – CTO (or equivalent) Forum 2024: Building Smart, Sustainable, Innovative Organizations |
| 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Networking Breakfast Join leading CTOs at this impactful event to explore strategies and technologies driving innovation, sustainability, and intelligence in innovation. Engage in discussions, share insights, and develop actionable strategies. Key takeaways include planning for AI-driven changes, promoting sustainability as an innovation opportunity, and best practices for building an innovation ecosystem. The agenda maximizes collaboration and networking, ensuring valuable connections and insights into industry challenges. (See tab above for details.) |
| 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Presentation and Group Discussion: Building Smart, Sustainable, Innovative Organizations – A People First Approach Prof. Kane will provide insights from his 10-year research program on digital transformation to spur conversations among participants about the strategic, leadership, talent, and cultural aspects of digitally mature organizations. |
| 10:00 a.m. – 10:20 a.m. Networking Break |
| 10:20 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. Small Group Discussion 1: Innovation Pipeline, Sustainability, and Innovation Investments Participants will self-select into four groups to discuss a combination of topics related to the innovation pipeline, sustainability, and maximizing innovation investments. |
| 10:50 a.m. – 11:05 a.m. Group Report Out and Discussion |
| 11:05 a.m. – 11:25 a.m. Networking Break |
| 11:25 a.m. – 11:55 a.m. Small Group Discussion 2: Advanced Capabilities and Workforce Participants will be divided into four groups to discuss topics around advanced capabilities and workforce. |
| 11:55 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Group Report Out and Discussion |
| 12:10 p.m. – 12:15 p.m. Wrap Up and Take-aways |
| 12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Networking Lunch |
This year’s lineup of speakers includes industry pioneers, thought leaders, and visionaries who will inspire and educate attendees on the latest trends, strategies, and best practices in innovation. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with fellow innovators and learn from the best in the field!
Laurence Du-Thumm
Global Senior Director, External Technology Innovation R&D, Colgate-Palmolive
Group Rate Information
Conrad Orlando
Book before Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Innovating the Future
$339.00/night
To make your reservations online, please click below and continue to book your room or call (407) 387 – 2000 and reference the 2024 NAM/IRI room block.
To make the most of your experience, take advantage of our exclusive group rate at the Conrad Orlando, where a block of rooms has been reserved for $339.00 per night. To make reservations online, please click on the reservation link above, and the group rate will automatically be applied or call the hotel directly.
The group rate reservation cut-off date is Tuesday, November 12, 2024. However, availability is not guaranteed once the room block is filled, which may occur before this date.
Partnership Opportunities with the IRI Innovating the Future
If you are interested in partnering with us, please fill out the form below or email Anna Chongpinitchai at AChongpinitchai@iriweb.org.
Who You’ll Meet
IRI’s Innovating the Future event is designed for CTOs, Directors, VPs, and leaders of R&D, innovation, new product development, technology, engineering, and growth. Past attendees at IRI events come from industry leaders such as Campbells, Boeing, Mars, PPG, Nestle Purina Petcare, NASA, National Gypsum, Timken, A.O. Smith, USG, and many more!
What to Expect
The IRI connects you with a community of innovators and experts who can help you increase speed to market, save time and costs, and bring out the best in your team. Experience fireside chats, panels, presentations, interactive sessions, and cocktail receptions.
Attire
The dress code for this event is resort style business casual.
The business casual dress code typically includes collared shirts, slacks, dresses, skirts, blouses, and sportscoats. We recommend avoiding jeans, t-shirts, sneakers, or overly casual clothing items while maintaining a professional appearance.
Nearby Airport
Orlando International Airport
- Address: 1 Jeff Fuqua Blvd, Orlando, FL 32827
- Phone number: (407) 825-2001
Kissimmee Gateway Airport
- Address: 401 Dyer Blvd, Kissimmee, FL 34741
- Phone number: (407) 847-4600
Business Cards
We encourage attendees to bring business cards to network and exchange contact information easily with other attendees, fostering valuable professional connections. They serve as convenient tools for making a lasting impression and staying connected beyond the event.
Hotel Parking
Self-Parking: Not available
Valet Parking: $50
EV charging: Available
Secured: Available
Covered: Not available
In & out privileges: Available
CTO Forum 2024: Building Smart, Sustainable, Innovative Organizations
December 5, 8:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Join fellow CTOs for a facilitated deep dive into how to foster digital enablement, sustainability, and robust innovation ecosystems. This high-impact event will bring together leading CTOs to explore cutting-edge strategies and technologies that drive innovation, sustainability, and intelligence in the manufacturing industry. Engage in thought-provoking discussions, share insights with peers, and develop actionable strategies to implement within your organization. Key takeaways include understanding how others are planning for the changes that AI will bring, insights into how to promote sustainability as an innovation opportunity, and best practices for building your innovation ecosystem. The agenda is designed to maximize collaboration and networking, ensuring you leave with new connections and valuable insights into how other industry leaders are approaching the same challenges that you face.
CTO Forum Agenda
| Thursday, December 5 – CTOs only |
| 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Networking Breakfast |
| 8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Presentation and Group Discussion: Building Smart, Sustainable, Innovative Organizations – A People First Approach Prof. Kane will provide insights from his 10-year research program on digital transformation to spur conversations among participants about the strategic, leadership, talent, and cultural aspects of digitally mature organizations. |
| 10:00 a.m. – 10:20 a.m. Networking Break |
| 10:20 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. Small Group Discussion 1: Innovation Pipeline, Sustainability, and Innovation Investments Participants will self-select into four groups to discuss a combination of topics related to the innovation pipeline, sustainability, and maximizing innovation investments. |
| 10:50 a.m. – 11:05 a.m. Group Report Out and Discussion |
| 11:05 a.m. – 11:25 a.m. Networking Break |
| 11:25 a.m. – 11:55 a.m. Small Group Discussion 2: Advanced Capabilities and Workforce Participants will be divided into four groups to discuss topics around advanced capabilities and workforce. |
| 11:55 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. Group Report Out and Discussion |
| 12:10 p.m. – 12:15 p.m. Wrap Up and Take-aways |
| 12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Networking Lunch |