Innovation Workshop: Establishing Fundamentals and Avoiding Pitfalls

Northwest Indiana is ripe with potential for more economic growth through innovation. The Society of Innovators at Purdue University Northwest is partnering with industry expert Gregg Fraley to help spark this growth. Be part of the process as we build the region's awareness, capacity and knowledge for innovation.

Whether you are new to innovation or have been leading your organization's development programs for years, this event is for you. The Society of Innovators' (SOI) first public workshop is a 3-for-1 event where you will hear three different perspectives from industry leaders. Our morning programming will include a half-day of innovation training, real world case studies and networking with other innovation-minded professionals.

Speakers include:

• Gregg Fraley: CEO, GFi
• Earl Miller: Director of Innovation and Engineering, Hiler Industries
• Sheila Matias: Executive Director, The Society of Innovators at Purdue Northwest

Attendees can expect the following:

• Useful content and training for innovators (and innovator wanna-be's)
• A neutral ground to network and exchange ideas
• Foster more on-going connections with other innovation-minded leaders
• Become a useful partner in your organization's innovation efforts
• Boost your concept of innovation and distinguish it from continuous improvement and quality programs
• Equip yourself and your organization with applicable skills and concepts to be a better innovation leader

Continental breakfast and lunch will be provided. Registration is limited to the first 30 participants.

Gregg Fraley is an innovation consultant specializing in training and hands-on project strategy and facilitation. He’s the CEO of GFi (Gregg Fraley Innovation). Since 2003, his mission is helping companies innovate. He does assessments of culture, research of customer needs and internal process improvement opportunities, idea generation sessions, long term innovation roadmapping, and project management.

He’s the author of the noted business fable, Jack's Notebook, about creativity and innovation processes.

His customers include: Coca-Cola, Abbvie, Bosch, Johnsonville Sausage, Sanofi, W.R. Grace, P&G, Leo Burnett Advertising, and Georgia Pacific. He’s worked with start-ups and mid-sized organizations as well, including business-to-business companies in Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois.

Gregg is the inventor of the MoshPit Innovation Service. MoshPit is a new and advanced method for discovering breakthrough ideas using concept blends. MoshPit is particularly useful in creating projects to integrate new digital technologies. The MoshPit method builds on the research he did as a founding partner at KILN, a UK based consultancy that applied cultural trend intelligence and radically new ideation process techniques to search for breakthrough strategies and ideas. KILN created the IdeaKeg trend-box subscription service. Unilever, Sargento Foods, Cook Medical, and Rose-Hulman Institute were IdeaKeg subscribers.

At Warner Cable's QUBE he pioneered interactive TV programs winning Emmy and ACE awards. In the software industry, he developed SmartScripts, the first patented wireless prescription system for doctors. He has a wealth of experience with technology, developing software applications in healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and field service. He was a founder of three software companies, including Advanced Health/Med-E-Systems, which went public in 1997.

Gregg has written for, or been quoted in, the following publications: Forbes, SmartBrief, Successful Meetings, Redbook, Crain's Chicago Business, The Chicago Tribune, Chicago's Daily Herald, and US News and World Report. He’s published with: Quirk’s Market Research, InnovationExcellence.com, Intelligent HQ.com, and Research World.

Gregg was recently named a Top 50 Innovation blogger in the world, by both Innovation Excellence and Feedspot.com.

He’s spoken at conferences around the world: ESOMAR, TEDxNASA, TEDxStormont, FUSE, and the Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI). He contributes content to Notre Dame’s Certified Innovation Mentor program, and is a Visiting Innovation Scholar at the school, working with the Idea Center. He is a professional member of the National Speakers Association, and a Vistage speaker.

Gregg resides in Three Oaks, Michigan.