SA ranks 59th on global innovation index, the 4th SA Innovation Summit responds Announcement Press Release

In its most adventurous, interconnected and interactive incarnation yet, the 4th SA Innovation Summit staged from August 30 to September 1 in Sandton, aims to jolt participants off their well-worn mental tracks and on to more fruitful and creative paths to stimulate innovation in SA.

In its most adventurous, interconnected and interactive incarnation yet, the 4th SA Innovation Summit staged from August 30 to September 1 in Sandton, aims to jolt participants off their well-worn mental tracks and on to more fruitful and creative paths to stimulate innovation in SA.

Leading the process under the theme ‘Innovation Legends – Ideas to Market’, will be a line-up of 54 of the most exciting and successful innovators and innovation specialists in business, government and academia from South Africa, Africa and beyond.

The global trend towards collaborative or open innovation is a hot topic which will be explored by top practitioners in the field. Skip Davis, Vice President of open innovation consultants NineSigmawill be talking on “Harnessing the wisdom of the crowd “while creative strategist Tim Malone will make the argument for organization-wide creative collaboration in a presentation titled “The fuzzy front end”. Industrial heavyweights Anglo and Eskom will both be presenting case studies of open innovation in their organisations.

Delegates will get firsthand experience of collaborative creativity at the summit’s bold new feature, the Innovation Lab, which will function as both an experiential exhibition space and an idea factory.

As well as showcasing inventive installations from cutting edge brands like Gijima and BMGi, the lab will give companies the chance to tap into a global network of thousands of creative thinkers to find novel solutions to their real-life business challenges. The Innovation Lab will be presided over by charismatic creative guru Jan VanMol, the Belgian– born founder of Ad!dict Creative Lab and a pioneer of open innovation. VanMol will also be stretching delegates’ brains in lab sessions on breakthrough thinking and idea generation.

Delegates can participate in the SAB foundation competition with R2 million in prize money developing products and services to meet the daily needs faced by women and youth in South Africa.

A major focus of the 2011 Innovation Summit is the stimulation of local creativity and the transformation of new ideas into commercially-viable, socially-useful products and services. Among those sharing their experiences of bringing ideas to market will be one of SA’s most well know innovation legends, Sasol. ‘Innovation is at the core of Sasol’s business. As the business has expanded across the globe, this spirit of innovation continues to thrive, which is echoed in the enterprise development arm of Sasol, namely ChemCity.’