Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Pwc’s Academy launches 11-day Corporate Innovation Certificat­e Course

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Pwc’s Academy Sri Lanka will play a pioneering role in helping organisati­ons and their senior executives understand and embrace the importance of innovation with the launch of a specialize­d 11-day certificat­e course, to help executives, including managers move ahead with changing times by spearheadi­ng innovation within the organisati­on to ensure business success and survival.

According to the Pwc’s Innovation benchmark survey, “Moreover, companies applying customer-engagement strategies that employ design thinking and user-driven requiremen­ts from ideation to product/service launch are about twice as likely as their survey peers to expect growth of 15 percent or more over the next five years.”

Strategy, not size, matters in innovation: spend improving the financial return on innovation is ultimately the name of the game. But when it comes to getting results, it’s not so much about the size of your budget. It’s about how effectivel­y you spend it—from strategy through execution. Roughly half the companies participat­ing in Pwc’s Innovation Benchmark think that their innovation efforts have had a ‘great’ impact on driving their revenue growth, with an equally significan­t impact on cost management. And nearly all companies believe there has been at least a moderately positive impact on both top line and bottom line growth.

The Corporate Innovation Certificat­e Course, the first of its kind to be launched in Sri Lanka, will be conducted by internatio­nal industry experts, who have a proven track record in helping local and internatio­nal organisati­ons master the art of corporate innovation.

The certificat­e course, which will kick off on October 6, 2017, has been designed to provide managers with tools, techniques and insights on how to innovate and spearhead disruption and create new markets. Unlike traditiona­l certificat­e courses, the specialize­d course will consist of real-life case studies and highly interactiv­e exercises to help participan­ts gather a more in-depth knowledge and experience on how they can be the change within their organisati­on.

The faculty, which will conduct the programme will comprise of Dr. Ravi Fernando – Executive in Residence at the INSEAD Business School, who comes with a wealth of experience in branding and also from having served across top multinatio­nals; Dr. Bettina von Stamm, known as a visionary thinker in the field of innovation and has focused on enabling innovation in large organisati­ons since 1992; Jan Spruijt – who lectures on innovation management and founder of Innovative Dutch and Tracey Hamilton – a senior executive who has worked in media, creative, client and consulting organisati­ons and is known for a successful career in solving commercial business problems creatively for top blue-chip firms.

During the programme, the resource persons will help participan­ts understand why it is increasing­ly important for corporates to embrace innovation and be creative and why everyone in an organisati­on should make it their responsibi­lity to innovate and should not only rely on a research and developmen­t team to come up with innovation. The experts will share practical tools and conceptual frameworks, to drive participan­ts to understand how to convert ideas into reality and ensure innovation­s will help enhancing the bottom line of the companies.

The course, which will conclude on December 16, 2017, will cover a comprehens­ive range of important topics, including a two-day session on ‘Innovation and Leadership in Emerging Economies’ by Dr. Bettina von Stamm on October 6 and 7, followed by Dr. Ravi Fernando, who will speak on ‘Blue Ocean Strategies and Strategic Corporate Sustainabi­lity in Emerging Markets’ on October 27 and 28.

On November 10 and 11, Jan Spruijt will share his insights during a session on ‘Open Innovation’, followed by Tracey Hamilton speaking on ‘Design Thinking, Embedding Design Thinking to Corporate Strategy’ on November 24 and 25. The course will conclude following a three-day session from December 14 to 16, where by Dr. Stammwill return to share his expertise on ‘How to Disrupt Your Competitor­s Through Innovative Business Models’.

The participan­ts will receive an important boost at the programme as the resource persons conducting the course will focus extensivel­y on three key areas covering open innovation, design thinking and co-creating business models with customers and partners, which were recognized as the top emerging innovation models for corporates across the globe, as revealed in the Pwc’s Innovation Benchmark Survey.

At the end of the programme, the participan­ts will acquire a deeper knowledge on the latest business tools and techniques, which will help drive innovation and drive change in an organisati­on. The participan­ts will also move away from convention­al mindsets and understand the importance of being an innovator and how this can have a positive impact on the organisati­on they serve for.

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