Fox IT Symposium

Where art thou innovation?

April 9, 2008

Panelists

Cristóbal I. Conde, President and CEO, SunGard Data Systems Inc.
Matthew Charles Mullenweg, Founder, Chief BBQ Taste Tester, Automattic, Inc.
Joe Weiss, Chairman, Electronic Ink

Rajiv Banker, Merves Chair and Professor
Ram Mudambi, Professor and Perelman Senior Research Fellow
Youngjin Yoo, Associate Professor and IBIT Fellow

Moderator

Munir Mandviwalla, Associate Professor, Temple University

Summary

Organizations often talk about innovation, but few actually act in an innovative manner. Is innovation really that important or is it just the modern mantra of every organization? Why do organizations really need to innovate? Is it competitive or opportunistic pressure? Are some organizations born to innovate? Can every organization really create new products and service through innovation? Should every organization pursue radical innovation? Would it make more sense to pursue process innovations under some conditions? Can you really innovate by acquisition or must you develop everything on your own? Is open and distributed innovation really the answer? Should large organizations even bother with innovation? Can you simply buy innovation? Is innovation really the old refrain of business process reengineering?

The panel will engage the participants in an informal interactive manner to further discuss the above questions.