New Balance CEO
Pfizer VP Strategy and New Business
PepsiCo Chief Scientific Officer
TripAdvisor CEO
Walmart Head of Emerging Technology
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Our first-ever Atlanta Field Study took participants to the campus of Georgia Tech, Google Atlanta, Home Depot world headquarters, the Porsche Experience Center, Delta’s “The Hangar” innovation lab, Anthem’s innovation studio, and more. Thanks to our friends at Imaginatik, Digital Scientists, and Georgia Tech for helping us pull it together!
And we hope to see you in Washington, D.C. in June, for our next learning expedition.
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- The Field Study began with a visit to Georgia Tech’s Capstone Expo, where seniors show off projects they’ve been developing in collaboration with large companies and government agencies.
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- Fidelity Investments VP Tony Parham and Innovation Leader Editor Scott Kirsner get an overview of an IoT project at the Capstone Expo.
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- Cocktails and networking in the rooftop garden at Community Smith.
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- Day One breakfast at the Atlanta Field Study.
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- Field Study guide Bob Klein, CEO of Digital Scientists in Atlanta.
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- Field Study guide Chris Townsend, Chief Marketing Officer of Imaginatik.
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- Participants divided themselves by “innovation program maturity” to recommend best practices to others.
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- Head of the Panasonic Innovation Center John Avery (left), and Anthem SVP Healthcare Innovation and Technology David Crean.
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- David Crean (at left) leads a tour of The Anthem Innovation Studio, the innovation lab at the $85 billion health benefits company.
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- Michael Britt (center), VP of the Energy Innovation Center at Southern Co., leads a tour of the Center.
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- Airplane seating and a whiteboard mural inside Delta’s “Hangar” innovation lab at TechSquare.
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- Nicole Jones, Global Innovation Leader at Delta Air Lines, leads a tour complete with product demos.
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- One of Delta’s projects is an Amazon Alexa “skill” that offers flight updates in response to spoken requests.
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- Renee Dye, Chief Innovation Officer at Navigant Consulting, contributes to the conversation on “innovation pipelines.”
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- David Lee of UPS’s Innovation and Strategic Enterprise Fund talks about how the company collaborates with — and invests in — startups.
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- Ken Durand, VP Product Innovation at Ericsson, also serves as head of the company’s Atlanta “Idea Factory.”
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- Richard O’Brien, Medtronic’s Director of Technology for “CDRM” (Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management). At right is Lee Clark-Sellers, Innovation Officer at the $1.9 billion building-products company Ply Gem.
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- Mark Daddi from Bayer, Bob Klein of Digital Scientists, and Innovation Leader’s Ellen Juskewitch.
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- Rooftop coffee break at TechSquare; we brought in a local espresso cart to supply the caffeine.
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- Altria’s Director of Innovation Robert Driver, Fidelity’s VP Innovation Tony Parham, and USAA AVP Innovation Jeff Easley.
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- Southern Company SVP Innovation Chuck Danville leads a whiteboard session on the $3.9 billion energy company’s internal idea competition, known as “The SO Prize.”
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- Turner Classic Movies’ head of strategy Shannon Clute shares his learnings on testing brand extensions.
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- Daniel Friedman of Imaginatik leads a whiteboard session on increasing employee-driven innovation.
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- The subway-themed entrance at Google Atlanta.
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- Visiting one of Google’s famed in-house cafeterias.
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- Innovation Leader co-founder Scott Cohen (left) with Google Atlanta site lead Matthew Prichard.
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- Philip Newman, who focuses on recruiting innovators at The Home Depot, led a tour of the company’s “Store Support Center.”
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- A tour of Home Depot’s Store Support Center.
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- A wall of hardware at Home Depot’s in-house Starbucks café.
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- Innovation Leader founder and editor Scott Kirsner interviews Home Depot’s innovation leadership, including (from left) Blinds.com CEO Jay Steinfeld (which Home Depot acquired in 2014); VP Online Prat Vermana; Home Depot Innovation Lab senior manager Anthony Gregorio; and VP Direct Fulfillment and Delivery Stephanie Smith.
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- Daniel Friedman of Imaginatik (center) participates in a customer observation exercise at Home Depot — using Legos — with Invista Director of Innovation Nida Ansari.
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- Astrid Fontaine, VP HR, Culture and Innovation at Porsche Cars North America.
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- The tour of the Porsche Experience Center.
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- Inside the Porsche Experience Center.
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- Innovation Leader Field Study participants got to race one another in ultra-realistic simulators at Porsche.
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- The track at the Porsche Experience Center, where Field Study participants got a tour — and a chance to drive a simulator or the real deal.
