We have a new agenda for the next Innovation Unit meeting on the morning of Monday 19 April and we will have a leading speaker from Nokia.
Since the early 1990’s Nokia has invested close to €35 billion in research and development to build one of the strongest and broadest intellectual property rights (IPR) portfolios in the wireless industry. They invest heavily in innovation because ‘our business is about delivering new technologies, products and services to our customers and consumers’. Nokia now owns approximately 11,000 patented innovations and its global patent portfolio includes approximately 42,000 patents and patent applications. Nokia files approximately 1,000 new patent applications annually.
One of Nokia’s characteristics is their innovative approach to innovation. For example, their Growth Economy Venture Challenge will provide a venture capital investment in the winning proposal of $1 million. The Challenge is looking for one idea that stands above all the rest; one that could truly change the way people use Nokia mobile devices and that demonstrates how mobility improves the lives of millions of people in developing nations.
The morning will be a great opportunity to learn about innovation from leading practitioners and to network with fellow professionals.
Date: Monday 19 April 2010
Title: Innovation at Nokia
Venue: Central London
Time: Registration and refreshments from 0900. Meeting from 09.30 – 1300 followed by a sandwich lunch
Guest Speakers:
- Pekka Pohjakallio, Vice President, Concepting & Innovation Solutions Unit
- Paul Sloane, Head, BQF Innovation Unit
Paul will lead an interactive workshop exercise on corporate differentiation and positioning
Please also forward this invitation to others in your organisation who may be interested in attending. Book here.
Paul Sloane
I am running a one day Master Class on Innovation for Competitive Advantage for the BQF on Sept 15th in central London. It is guaranteed to give you great techniques for generating innovative ideas. 
I ran a short workshop session today after the BQF Annual General Meeting. The first thing we did was to construct a new elevator pitch. Each delegate had to write down how they would currently describe their organisation in one sentence. We got a lot of short mission statements and advertising tag lines. Then people designed a new elevator pitch using this formula:
of the north of England and southern Scotland. He told a fascinating story about leading the business. In their first year of operation in 2004 they carried 13 million passengers. In 2008 it was 22 million and the number is still growing. During the same period they have significantly improved customer satisfaction.