“Innovate or Die!”  

When Tom Peters sounded this mantra in 1997, it resonated throughout the business community.   Innovation, whether in products and services, in organizations, strategies, and processes, in communication, transportation, agriculture, medicine, and education, delivers a huge share of jobs, wealth, and progress in our world.   But as the progenitor of modern innovation theory, Everett Rogers, illustrates with the Dvorak keyboard, if an “obviously superior idea was never implemented, [it] never becomes a true innovation.”

To boost their innovation success rate, company leaders can rely on their own trial and error, or they can leverage the experiences of others.  An upcoming event offers the opportunity for both -- the 2004 Colorado Innovation Summit provides attendees with the ability to build on their own experience by hearing from and interacting with successful innovation veterans in many domains. 

During the two-day Summit, eighteen corporate managers of internationally known companies will share lessons from the real world of innovation. The agenda includes one keynote, one plenary, two powerful panels, twelve breakout sessions, and lots of opportunities for informal conversations and capturing lessons via the “Lessons Project.” 

Some of the speakers include:

• Tom Mahony, Director ofAdvanced Defense System Business Development, Ball Aerospace
• Steve Jennings, VP Marketing, Digital Globe
• Lorraine Martin, Vice President and Deputy, Lockheed Martin
• Kim Hibler, VP Product Development, First Data Corporation

The Colorado Innovation Summit is produced by Gary Lundquist, President of Market Engineering, and Thomas Frey, Executive Director of The DaVinci Institute.   More information can be found at http://www.innovationsummit.com.