“The Innovation Olympics can be a transformative program for participants. Many students who have completed the Innovation Olympics say that it’s better than any other academic course or program they have ever taken.”

This is the first of three podcasts featuring Ron Jonash, senior partner at the IXL Center and chairman of the board of the Global Innovation Management Institute. We’re excited to have Ron share his insights today on the IXL Innovation Olympics, which he currently leads.

The Innovation Olympics is a global 8 week consulting competition that started in 2006. It is co-sponsored by IXL Center and the non-profit Global Innovation Management Institute. In the Innovation Olympics, 5 graduate-student teams tackle a strategic growth challenge that is set by a corporate or non-profit sponsor. There are up to 10 challenges per edition of the Olympics, which are held four times a year. Sponsors get up to 25 new business concepts and 5 mini business plans, along with access to a diverse and highly motivated talent pool. All of this is offered for a small fraction of the cost and time required for a traditional consulting engagement.

3:45 How did the Innovation Olympics begin?

5:15 Clients soon demanded a broader base of competing teams.

5:50 The Olympics soon became a truly international competition and attracted students from a wide array of schools (after it had started as a capstone program at Hult International Business School).

6:00 The program then turned into more like a consulting competition with a novel second phase. The first phase focused on specifying opportunity areas that aligned with clients’ needs; the second phase entailed clients working more closely with students to get closer to an actual implementation of ideas.

9:05 Students love this program because it offers the them real practical experience.

9:25 Clients love the Olympics because the innovation process gets done much more quickly than what is possible at their own companies.

10:10 Now, the Olympics start out with collaboration and then it turns into a competition (which is similar to most successful business innovation programs that companies employ).

12:10 How is the Innovation Olympics different from other innovation platforms?

14:05 What’s the best kind of student for this competition?

15:50 It’s easier to work across silos and disciplines with these student teams (this represents a significant value to the client).

16:10 Teams have software tools and methods to help them cross silos and disciplines.

16:50 Democratizing innovation so people can easily and rapidly work together.

17:05 Establishing common approaches and tools overcomes bickering about what approaches to take.

18:10 GIMI standards and tools are crucial in getting results/solutions in only 8 weeks.

19:00 What are the best kind of companies to participate in the Olympics?

21:10 What has been the impact of the Innovation Olympics on participating students and companies?

24:55 Many graduating students say that it’s better than any academic course or program they

have ever taken.

Stephanie Doscher Ed.D. | Game Changers Podcasts

Global Learning: Innovating with Diverse Teams to Create New Knowledge

“Global learning is a process that involves diverse people collaboratively analyzing and addressing complex problems that transcend borders. This results in the production of new knowledge about the world and the way it works.”

Stephanie Doscher is Director of Florida International University’s Global Learning for Global Citizenship initiative. FIU provides multiple global learning experiences to every one of its 38,000+ undergraduates, preparing them for leadership in the world’s diverse, interconnected local and global communities. Dr. Doscher has shared her experiences and insights in a recent book, Making Global Learning Universal. This book provides frameworks that can help educators at other institutions to adapt the great vision of global learning to the realities – the strengths, weaknesses and resource constraints – of their particular college or university.

Highlights:

4:35 Making Global Learning Universal – How the book got started.

6:30 We need to educate leaders who are equipped to deal with global challenges

12:00 FIU’s Global Learning program started to attract interest from universities across the US

after 2010

13:35 The seeds of the Global Learning program were sown at FIU in 1972

17:40 In 2008, teachers and students at FIU wanted to reinvigorate the “I” in FIU

21:00 The “big bang” at FIU: students demand truly taking advantage of the diverse

experiences of their fellow students in their educational experience

25:00 The definition of global learning

28:45 The essence of true collaboration lies in complete interdependence

29:45 Superadditivity; or, 1+1 = 3 (the equation for new knowledge about the world)

31:15 Complex problems are the proper target for the global learning process

33:30 What is available to students who want to maximize the Global Learning opportunities at

FIU?

34:40 Look over the e-portfolios of Global Learning Medallion Graduates.

35:40 FIU’s students are making change while they are in school (and not waiting until

graduation)

In our last podcast, Dr. Nada shared her insights about trends in integrative medicine. This week, we’re focusing on her own business, Sage Tonic, specifically on her strategies for creating long term economic sustainability of her enterprise. We’ll also learn how she uses “cross-talk” to help generate ideas and energy when she needs to innovate. We’re starting off the podcast with some Q&A from listeners about integrative medicine.

Highlights

1:40 Q&A: How many Americans suffer from anxiety?

2:40 Q&A: Headache, depression and sleep disorder: what are the numbers?

3:30 Q&A: How much is Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) growing?

5:00 Q&A: What are some reasons for the growth in CAM?

6:50 What’s your approach to keeping your business successful?

8:40 The possibilities of corporate wellness programs; partnering with portable

devices

9:20 Unanticipated applications of CAM

9:45 1) CAM used by a police officer to help recruits with stress

11:20 2) CAM used at a pediatric hospital

14:00 Being open to partnerships … that leads to “cross-talk”

15:30 The best innovation occurs across disciplines

17:30 What’s keep you searching for innovation throughout your career?

18:00 Countries that don’t value innovation don’t improve their societies as quickly as

they could

https://www.giminstitute.org/

“It’s only been … more recently in Western medicine that you hear about that mind-body connection. But we now know that the two are inseparable. Various systems in the body do cross-communicate and you can’t treat a particular condition in isolation of the rest of the body.”

Dr. Nada Milosavljevic is an entrepreneur, innovator, author and faculty member at Harvard Medical School. She now runs her own private practice in integrative medicine in Newton, Massachusetts and is the founder and CEO of Sage Tonic, which offers an innovative evidence-based holistic program and mobile tech for wellness.

This first of two podcasts with Dr. Milosavljevic focuses on her general approaches to integrative health and her path to moving from downstream methods of healthcare (like pharmaceutical products that general deal with problems that have already become acute) to upstream methods of healthcare (like many approaches taken by today’s complementary and alternative medicine, or “CAM”). CAM is becoming a huge trend within the health and wellness industry with global consumer demand rising to an estimated annual amount of $115 billion.

Highlights:

0:20 – Sage Tonic description: a sensory platform providing evidence-based holistic treatments for on-the-go wellness

4:55 – Learning about medicine while working as a patent attorney for biotech / pharma

6:00 – Looking to prevent depression in young adults (which often begins at age 17)

9:55 – Ease of delivery an important part of these integrative therapies

11:40 – Our senses are our only connections to the outside world and are crucial in dealing with anxiety and depression

12:45 – The best innovation comes from cross-disciplinary work

14:40 – The growing trend in evidence-based holistic medicine

16:30 – Personalized medicine trend: it’s not just sophisticated use of genetic research

18:10 – Patients need help navigating through the huge amounts of information that is available on health

21:00 – A lot of pharmacology doesn’t solve many mental health problems: the turn to prevention

22:20 – Prevention and personalization seem to be the two big trends in medicine … and help with curbing “diseases of lifestyle”

25:40 – Western medicine is looking at models of Eastern medicine to explore the mind-body connection

“To face the problems confronting the energy challenges of tomorrow, industry and academia are going to have to learn how to pivot”: Part 2 of a conversation with former Assistant Secretary of Energy, Charles McConnell.

Charles D. McConnell is Executive Director of Rice University's Energy and Environment Initiative. In Part 2 of our conversation, McConnell discusses the urgent need for companies and academics working on issues related to energy to be ready and able to change quickly when the market demands that change. That urgency is derived from the fact that energy isn’t just a commodity: it’s a public good. As challenges related to growing demand put pressure on an energy supply that must grow both in output as well as in the means of production (to include renewables, for instance), the public good can be put at risk. McConnell’s innovative work at Rice focuses on reducing that risk as much as possible as we transition to a new energy paradigm over the next 50 years. Read McConnell’s latest opinion piece on strategic approaches to reducing carbon emission in The Hill.

Interview Highlights:

5:15 It’s ok be both good for business and good for the environment

6:15 You can’t take reliable energy for granted

9:05 Innovation at Rice University: to be impactful, you have to be relevant

12:15 The need for interdisciplinary, cross-functional teams

14:15 Industry and academia are going to have to learn how to pivot

15:12 Rice is looking for places to connect with marketplace challenges and opportunities

16:00 The ultimate goal is to make the world a better place

“Moving Towards the Digital Oil Field of the Future”: a conversation with former Assistant Secretary of Energy, Charles McConnell.

Charles D. McConnell is Executive Director of Rice University's Energy and Environment Initiative. In Part 1 of our conversation, McConnell addresses topics like the fundamentals of true energy sustainability and the key innovations that will impact energy markets. A 35-year veteran of the energy industry, McConnell joined Rice in August 2013 after serving two years as the Assistant Secretary of Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Interview Highlights:

3:35 True energy sustainability entails accessibility, affordability and environmental responsibility

6:38 Environmental sustainability in electric power requires combining a variety of approaches

7:57 Using data to maximize energy production in the Bakken oil field of North Dakota

9:19 The digital oil field of the future

12:24 Innovation and societal responsibility: “You don’t get take-backs.”

15:50 Big Trends: Data, AI, robotics and a routine focus on de-carbonization

18:14 “Don’t hate the fuel; hate the emissions”

20:40 The industry blind spot in alternative energy: the supply chain for basic materials