Save the Date for IRI's 2012 Member Summit

October 15-18, Indianapolis, Indiana

All members are encouraged to submit session proposals.  Deadline: May 21 2012

Tell us your story about "Revving up R&D" and let the conversations begin!

The IRI Member Summit is an exceptional forum for networking of R&D executives. The friendly, and semi-formal atmosphere of the Summit makes communication highly effective.  Isaak Volynsky, Vice President, Innovation & Technology, Creata

Revving up R&D

Innovation is a team sport, with many facets contributing to its success for a company. R&D leadership is a critical shifting point -- focusing on how R&D helps drive a company’s strategy for growth. A company experiences transformational growth only through a winning strategy and success depends on the entire team’s efforts. This meeting’s focus is on R&D’s role in building and executing a winning transformational strategy to help drive growth.

Indianapolis is the setting for the 2012 Member Summit and we'll have some fun with the Indy theme and our session content.

Qualifying Round: Transformational Strategy

Few companies can expect continuous growth without vision and strategy to adapt to the ever changing world of competition, customer expectation and other market factors. Most companies are very capable of making minor evolutionary adjustments necessary for success in the short term. Far fewer can anticipate, recognize and execute in the face of a need for more disruptive changes.
Determine how such transformational change is orchestrated and how R & D can be a key contributor and engine for successful transformation. Hear member companies relate their approaches and degrees of success in several areas such as business models, products & markets, technology and core competence, organizational structure and culture, tools, methods, and more.

Pit Crew: Tools for R&D Leaders

Workshop sessions focus on tools and ideas to assist leaders in better anticipating and planning for the development and execution of their technology strategies. We encourage members to describe how they have effectively used various tools, such as scenario planning, trend analysis, and technology road mapping, to enhance their approach.

The Race: Strategy Execution

Although most companies have a defined strategy in place, effective execution of the strategy has proven problematic. Failure of an organization’s strategy is often blamed on the strategy itself, when, in reality, the strategy was well thought out and quite sound, but the failure came in moving from the planning stage to the actual implementation. What role R&D should play in ensuring successful strategy implementation?
Explore topics such as:
• linking technology strategy with business strategy
• execution of R&D portfolio strategy
• resources allocation to ensure successful execution of the business & technology strategies
• developing a comprehensive launch plan
• proactively collaborating with other functions to execute strategy
• identifying obstacles to successful strategy execution

Here's what attendees tell us 

From private-sector companies to federal labs, from aerospace to wholesale. Innovation thought leaders in the R&D community representing diverse industry segments gather each year for our Member Summit.

“[I liked] hearing from different businesses about their approach to aspects of R&D that are important to my business.”  Manager of Electronics Miniaturization Lab, General Electric Company

“The speakers were great and the content was excellent.  It was very relevant to my business needs.”  Vice President of R&D, Welch’s

“I wish I had insisted on another colleague attending.” Chief Technical Officer, Zep Inc

“People were talking about specific new ideas and results rather than just reporting what they have done or observed.” President, Chief Operating Officer, Gen3 Partners

“Nice balance between keynotes, presentations, networking and ROR sessions.”  Vice President Open Innovation, DSM N.V.

“Presentations presented very realistic experienced-based learnings - not just what goes well in the firm, but also what has not worked well.” Vice President, Strategy & Alliances, Xerox

“[The Summit was an excellent] opportunity to network and learn from technology leaders across such diverse industries.” Senior Manager, External Innovation, H. J. Heinz Company

“[I enjoyed the] tremendous diversity of industries and entities represented. Truly a rarity to have such a spectrum from consumer products to raw chemical suppliers.” Technical Development Manager, Arkema Inc.

“As always, the networking value of these meetings is tremendous, as is the open & accepting environment of all attendees. Even as the meeting attendance & IRI membership have grown, this aspect of the IRI "culture" has been preserved.” Technology Manager, New Product Lines, Solvay Advanced Polymers, LLC

“[The attendees were] the open, willing to share, and willing to collaborate. It's amazing to meet and share with so many people; every single person I talked with had something valuable to share. Top quality attendees and content.” Strategic Innovator, Sealed Air Corporation

“The Summit provided me an opportunity to interact with practitioners of R&D management throughout industry in the practice of R&D management and gleam form them new ideas - something I have been looking for a while.” Group Leader, CPERL, Eastman Chemical Company

Learn, Share, Create

IRI provides the environment where the best innovators, practitioners, thought leaders and R&D professionals network to learn, share and create. This special “member only” event is designed for optimal dialogue and knowledge exchange and new knowledge generation. Organizations typically send two or more individuals from their R&D teams to gain maximum impact and benefits from the Member Summit. Make sure your team plans to join us. Take a look at organizations in attendance at last year’s Member Summit.