One of the mainstage sessions at our recent Impact conference in Boston featured Jit Kee Chin, Chief Technology Officer at Suffolk Construction, and Gabriele Ricci, Chief Data and Technology Officer at Takeda Pharmaceuticals.
Here are seven key themes they discussed:
1. Treat Data as a Strategic Weapon — Not a Reporting Tool
Instead of just building more data dashboard, the speakers recommended building systems and habits that help people make decisions using data.
Chin said, “It’s not the fact that you have data, because having data doesn’t actually do very much. It’s about how you use it… and how you use data to drive that competitive advantage is very unique to every company, even if everybody holds the same set of data.”
Ricci added, “Data with science and trust now is becoming… a new paradigm to orchestrate innovation across the group. …For us, trust is quite important because of regulations, but because of our mission too.”
2. Leverage Your ‘Burning Platform’ to Accelerate Change
Tie technology and innovation efforts to the external pressures your industry faces.
Chin said, “There’s no better driver of change than a burning platform… the drivers for embracing technology to build better are sharper than I have ever seen… from severe labor shortages… 500,000 to 700,000 short… to 40 percent cost escalation in the last five years… supply chain fragility… aging infrastructure… and the imperative of decarbonization, resiliency, [and] sustainability. And this is all against the background where productivity in this industry has maybe stagnated.”
“We all live and work in a very volatile environment,” Ricci said. There are “geopolitical tensions, macroeconomic tensions, cyber threats… [and] pressures in care systems that were designed in the 60s and 70s…” All that creates a need “to accelerate innovation. We need to keep pace with technological industry changes, and actually create greater resiliency and agility and digital skill and innovation skill.”
3. Build a Disciplined Innovation Pipeline That Scales What Works
Create a single, enterprise-wide process that turns ideas into scaled, repeatable impact.
“Innovation by itself doesn’t necessarily move the needle for the whole company…” Chin said. “What is really important is… the funnel and pipeline, and the resources to scale it up…”
Ricci said that Takeda is the only pharmaceutical company that manages a scientific pipeline and a digital pipeline with the same process, from idea generation to minimum viable product. The company tests ideas before scaling them across the enterprise, when they will need more resources and business unit support.
Ricci said, “Innovation… is the second-largest investment after R&D for the entire enterprise. That’s the magnitude of the impact that we expect from our digital pipeline.”
4. Partner with the Outside World to Expand Your Innovation Capacity
Chin recommended creating structured ties to startups and external ecosystems.
Suffolk “started investing [in startups] in 2019,” Chin said. “Some of the names we invested in when nobody had ever heard of them are now very well known in the construction industry… some have gone global.”
“We strongly… believe that we need to couple to the open innovation ecosystem in order to hear about new ideas… new technologies that one day can become foundational companies of the future…” she said.
5. Create Psychological Safety Through Role Modeling
Leadership should visibly model inquiry, learning, and transparency — so team members believe innovation is safe.
“Leadership and role modeling is super important,” Chin said. “Our CEO…embraces a no-fault culture… we will ask the question, we will have the conversation, rather than immediately [rushing] to any conclusions… The same is true of innovation — not all innovations are going to succeed. A number are going to fail…. What did we learn from why it didn’t work? And how does that change what we do going forward?”
“When our CEO started talking in town halls about minimum viable products… for me was, ‘Oh my lord, we created a monster,’ because leadership can actually talk about having a faster cycle of innovation… [fail] fast, but learn as quick as possible. …Because otherwise it would be too expensive and too risky.”
6. Build Enterprise Innovation Skills — Not Just Tools or Programs
Create workforce-level innovation literacy around concepts like customer-centricity, experimentation, design thinking, and digital dexterity.
“We have built out a network, we call it our innovation champions network, of frontline professionals,” Chin said. “They self-select in… and [they discuss topics] like where robotics is right now, where AI is for construction, what works and what doesn’t.”
Ricci said that a Takeda program called “Digital Dexterity” is “not just about learning how to use technology. It’s about the mindset… the focus on customer centricity, on value generation, on speed, on failing fast… How do you change the culture in a 244-year-old company is complicated.” Ricci also cited the company’s Experience Design Labs; human-centered design; and LEGO Serious Play.
7. Redesign Your Operating Model Using Emerging Technologies
Both speakers advised leveraging new technology to rethink entire systems and processes, not just make changes around the edges.
Chin said, “There’s a lot of innovation right now in exploring prefabrication and modularization… [to] reduce complexity… so you can pre-build components… more like IKEA sets or LEGO sets… At Suffolk, we’re always looking to best practices across the world.” We’ve seen companies that own the whole process… from design, construction, manufacturing, installation, even operations… be able to take cost down by 20–30%.”
“I think it is more important than ever to create innovative products, therapies, with strong data evidence that create more value than the current standard-of-care,” Ricci said. “That’s crucial.” He said that one new source of data are devices that patients can wear, like an Apple Watch or Whoop wristband.
Moderator Abbie Lundberg of MIT Sloan Management Review closed the session by asking about the things that get in the way of innovation in large enterprises.
Chin observed that “shifting mindsets, [and] bringing people along, is always the hardest thing in innovation.”
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