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About
Innovation Network

This 12 or 18-month, intensive study program will be looking at organizations with exceptionally innovative practices throughout the year. While the private area of the website is open only to IU Fellows, Faculty and Sponsors, you can send ideas and suggestions to the group by sending e-mail to: director@thinksmart.com

Purposes of Innovation University:

• To provide an advanced, collaborative learning environment that focuses on innovation in one's own organization and outside organizations.
• To support the exploration of the principles, practices, and measurements of innovation.
• To create a learning environment that encourages independent thinking and stimulates personal and professional growth.
• To foster innovation leadership.

Objectives of the 2000-2001 Fellowship:

• To study organizations whose innovative values, thinking and practices have created sustained success.
• To capture and share a rich variety of innovation stories.
• To create comprehensive thinking models that communicate the principles of innovation.
• To identify and examine the leadership issues around building an innovative, learning organization.

Meetings:

The Fellows meet either four or six times over a one to two year period, and each meeting includes:

• "Site visits" to innovative organizations; fellows tour facilities, receive formal presentations and talk with managers.
  
• Seminars or workshops by experts in organizational innovation.
  
• Experiential activities demonstrating principles of innovation or tools and techniques for stimulating creative thinking.
  
• Panel discussions involving local business people to discuss topics in management and innovation.
  
• Time and faculty resources for project work.

Meeting Schedule for 2000-2001

The next site visits of the 2001 year will take place Jan. 23-26 in Palo Alto, CA, where the group will visit One Workplace, designers of work space to achieve business results. The fellowship group will visit one of One Workplace's clients to see how the principles of design are implemented for a more traditional corporate client. A third site visit is planned to the Small Business Administration offices in the Silicon Valley where they've created an unusual public/private partnership to foster high tech start-ups. Other cities for Year 2001 site visits may include Chicago, IL, Cary, NC, Houston, TX, Seattle, WA, or Toronto, Ontario.

For more about past site visits, click here.

Check out the list of current and past Innovation University attendees and site visits.

Fellowship Projects:

Fellows will complete one major project or a series of minor projects. They can also join up for group projects.Projects will be aimed at producing theoretical and practical information that can be used to enhance the innovation leadership and/or the environment for innovation of the Fellow's organization. It is IU's goal that a number of projects will involve the development and implementation of new practices or measurements of innovation in the fellow's own organization. Numerous opportunities for multiple, smaller projects exist. The may include data compilations, case studies or the development of new creativity tools or techniques.

Ways to Participate:

There are three ways you can join our program: Fellowship, Sponsorship or One-Time Meeting Attendance.

Fellows can enroll for four meetings to be completed within 18 months or six meetings over a two-year period. The longer course is being introduced especially for Fellows who undertake more complex projects within their organizations or who require longer research cycles. These Fellows will also receive additional individual support from faculty members with their projects.

Tuition for the Four Meeting Fellowship is $6000 (includes Innovation Network membership and mentorship of individual or group project).
To register as an IU Fellow, click here.

Innovation Fellowship Sponsors--Fellowship Sponsors are people who are committed to the study of applied innovation, but are not able to attend four meetings and participate fully in projects. Sponsor benefits include:

• Virtual participation in the Fellowship program including all recaps, materials, site visit reports from each meeting.
  
• Attendance at any one of the four meetings.
  
• Opportunity to serve as a project site for Fellows.
  
• Attendance at the one-day information transfer meeting where projects are presented.
  
• Access to the IU Fellowship conference calls, email lists and website where information postings and discussion forums occur.

  Sponsor Fee: $2500 (Does not include travel, meals other than group meals, project materials or fees, if any, for site visits)

  Sponsors may attend additional meetings for $1000/meeting plus expenses.

  To register as a Sponsor, click here.

  One Time Meeting Attendance Fee: Join in a particular three-day site visit and meeting for $1500.

  To register for a one-time meeting, click here.

What Our Past Fellows Say:

"An excellent program! Doing a project made the Fellowship a very valuable experience. And, I have benefitted over and over again fromt he contacts I made!"

Laurie Dunnavant, Product Analyst Manager, 3M Health Systems

"My experience with IU helped me grow both professionally and personally. The exposure to innovation and creativity experts moved me light years ahead in my professional endeavor toward developing expertise. The knowledge I gained in tools, techniques, and theories proved to be invaluable in moving our organization forward."


Jack Johnson, Quality Coordinator, The Smithsonian Institution

"I have gained a lot from the site visits and talking with companies that I had never thought of contacting--like Cirque du Soleil. It's a terrific advantage to be in close contact with other companies studying innovation, and the diversity of companies represented in the Fellowship group offers great opportunities for comparison."


Larry Mucha, Manager Future Technologies Engineering, The Coca Cola Co.

"The project I've worked on has been a journey of discovery, both about myself and about innovation. The experience has stretched my expectations of the possiblities for research in this area. The work we've done has been truly exciting and thought provoking."


Greg Furrow, Manager, Quality Assurance, Eli Lilly and Company

To register online:
As a Fellow for $6000, click here.
As a Sponsor for $2500, click here.
To attend a one-time meeting at $1500, click here.
Or, simply call Ruth Ann Hattori, IU Program Coordinator (303) 604-1981
or fax (303) 604-1999.

If you have questions, please call

Ruth Ann Hattori (303) 604-1981
Andrea Woodward (805) 967-4893