In this episode, we spoke with Nick Reed Smith about his experience and how companies can establish a culture of innovation. 

Nick is the Innovation Process Manager at JBM Packaging and he works with customers to identify unmet opportunities and lead internal project teams that bring new products to market. Nick learned the innovation engineering process at Eureka Ranch. Here is the description and reason for creating the program taken directly from their website:

A NEW FIELD OF ACADEMIC STUDY AND LEADERSHIP SCIENCE
DEDICATED TO ENABLING A CULTURE OF INNOVATION
RESULTING IN INCREASED SPEED (UP TO 6X)
AND SUCCESS RATES (UP TO 10X).

Everyone says they WANT a culture of innovation, but the question is HOW do you go beyond rhetoric and intention and make it happen? 

Below are a few of Nick's accomplishments:

• Brought new products to market resulting in millions of dollars of new revenue and profit
• Designed and conducted more than 400 R&D experiments in one year, a new company record
• Developed project prioritization procedure resulting in faster project turn-around
• Established manufacturing talent pipeline by partnering with a local nonprofit organization

Nick shared a few additional thoughts on the Assist 2 Develop blog:

How Innovation Can Work for You