Dubai, United Arab Emirates - On occasion of 2015 as the Innovation Year for the UAE, organisations are embracing innovation as a new management competency. ShiftIN Partners caring on enabling innovation management across the GCC, brought the Innovation Guru, Professor Ronald Jonash to warm up with success stories of global and local organisations that had applied innovation programs to achieve breakthrough results.
Based in Boston (USA) and with 30+ years of practical experience in innovation, Mr.Jonash is the Director and a Senior Partner at the IXL Center and Chairman of the Board of the Non-profit Global Innovation Management Institute (GIMI). Among many other publications, he authored the best seller 'The Innovation Premium' and is currently writing a new book on innovation management titled, Beyond Eureka: Thinking and Acting Differently to make Innovation Real and Sustainable.He also holds faculty positions in many academic institutions and is a frequent speaker on technology and innovation strategy forums.
ShiftIN Partners had organized a business breakfast, where heads of strategy and innovation from the private and public sector like DEWA, Etihad, ENOC, Unilever and the Dubai Executive Council, as well as people from the entrepreneurship community and non for profit organizations like In5 and Dubai Cares; participated, making a successful and interactive morning.
Carlos Guevara, Partner and Co-Founder of ShiftIN played the role of moderator to awakening the relevant topics with questions to the panelist from DEWA and ARAMEX like "why innovation is important to you as an organization". Carlos wondered "about the importance of leadership, and culture of innovation, so what about the tools? Why we need to generate ideas and test them in faster, better, cheaper way?"
During his keynote,ProfessorJonashbrought to reflection that "it is very dangerous when you over-invest in the innovation but without investing in the process". He also added that inthe UAE, you have the vision and leadership, so you have to take advantage of that and bring people together to be on the same direction putting the strategic goals as the center of innovation".
As a panelist, Mr.Ammar Almazrouei,mentioned that "DEWA has two strategic priorities, we have to innovate because we are the sole providers of water and electricity", he added that "the other strategic reason for DEWA to innovate is due to the global trends and rise of technology, in addition to the oil status around the world and climate change (solar and renewable energy). Therefore innovation was not a choice, but more like a necessity".
The other member of the panel, Mr. Hassan Mikailstated that for ARAMEX "Innovation is not an option or a culture but a lifestyle, and companies that do not innovate may be losing their competitiveness and consequently will fall behind".
Events like the Innovation Breakfast organized by ShiftIN Partners bring awareness and introduce the tools and methodologiesthat lead to successful innovation programs.
About ShiftIN
ShiftIN Partners is a leading strategy management consulting firm focused on helping clients manage strategy and innovation programs that enable the organization to achieve the necessary Shift, working from withIN.
With decades of accumulated experience from around the world, our consultants have a track record on helping organisations in the emerging markets to overcome the challenges related to strategy execution. We are recognized for our obsession towards implementation, simplification and results.
In the Middle East, ShiftIN Partners has Offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, Kuwait, Doha, Chicago and Lisbon. For more information visit: www.shiftinpartners.com
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© Press Release 2015
