A Recap of NineSigma's Open Innovation Leadership Summit, May 2-4, 2011

**MARK YOUR CALENDARS**
NineSigma's 2012 Innovation Leadership Summit will be held October 1-3, 2012 in Philadelphia, PA. Click here for details.

Approximately 70 innovation leaders from 54 companies and nine countries gathered in Arlington, Virginia May 2-4 for NineSigma's Open Innovation Leadership Summit. Conference participants had the chance to network with their peers, while addressing the future of open innovation and critical challenges such as culture change, speed-to-market, public-private partnerships, OI leadership development and IP management. For a detailed account of the Summit, click here.

Speakers included innovation and thought leaders from:

  • Aachen University
  • Allergan
  • Centers for Disease Control
  • DSM
  • Eastman
  • Eaton Corporation
  • General Motors
  • Hallmark
  • NASA
  • Natura
  • PepsiCo
  • Philips Consumer Lifestyle
  • Schlumberger
  • TerraCycle
  • Under Armour
  • Unilever



Highlights

One of the conference highlights was the presentation of NineSigma's inaugural Excellence in Collaborative Innovation award to Open Innovation champions who have demonstrated dedication, leadership and passion in the field of Open Innovation.

Our five 2011 winners were:

  • Dick van Beelen, Director, Open Innovation AkzoNobel NV
  • Christophe Mangin, Director, R&D Global Strategy General Motors
  • Hajime Nagai, Executive GM, R&D Planning Division, Suntory Holdings
  • Katja van der Wal, Director Open Innovation, Philips Consumer Lifestyle
  • Michael Wynblatt, Vice President, Engineering Technology, Eaton Corporation

From left to right:
Michael Wynblatt, Christophe Mangin, Alexandre Nicolau
(accepting the award for Hajime Nagai), Dick van Beelen and Katja van der Wal

A Sample of Comments received from Summit Attendees:

"I thought it was first rate. I've done a few of these now and this was the best. The location, the relaxed feel, the mix and caliber of people, plus the quality of material was overall very good." – Jon Hague, Unilever

"Loved the conference, very valuable from a learning and a contacts standpoint!" – Jason Berns, Under Armour

"Great event for networking and inspiration. I am sure I will follow-up with a few contacts to generate mutual business benefit." – Katja van der Wal, Philips

"The passion and excitement was exciting to see. No one was ready to stop!" – Diane Powell, NASA

"I was very impressed with the Summit. It provided great insight and understanding on Open Innovation and more importantly the economic benefits. Overall your Summit was inspiring to me and highly educational." – Robert Vimini, Perdue Farms

"Outstanding. Best conference of the year." – Blaine Childress, Sealed Air