This document provides information about an upcoming conference titled "Challenge the Future – Innovate in times of rapid change" to be held on May 13th, 2011 in Prague, Czech Republic. The one-day conference organized by TIM-FPH Institute will focus on innovations that can lead organizations to success in times of rapid change. It will include keynote speeches, breakout sessions on topics like open innovation and financing innovation, and a panel discussion on technology transfer. Over 150 participants are expected to attend the conference at the Prague Congress

1. Prague
13.05.2011
“Challenge the Future –
Innovate in times of rapid change”
What is the future and who will challenge it? Which kind of
innovations will lead the way and which organizations have the
courage and power to bring them to success.
Main organizer:
Co-organizers:
Sponsors:
Partners: inovum
agentura pro podporu a rozvoj inovací
Catering provided by Zatisi Group
The conference is held under the patronage of
Minister Ing. Martin Kocourek, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic
Doc. MUDr. Bohuslav Svoboda, CSc., Mayor of the Capital City of Prague

2. Program
08.00 Registration, welcome coffee
09.00 Welcome & Introduction
09.15 Key Note Speech: Innovate to Compete
• Prof. George Haour, IMD Lausanne
09.45 Coffee break
10:15 Speech session: challenge the future with innovation
• Henning Grossmann, head of Technopark Foundation
• Stefan Gabriel, President, 3M New Ventures
• Jan Muehlfeit, Chairman Microsoft Europe, Microsoft Corporation
11:30 Lunch
13:00 Break Out Sessions 1
1. Innovate in times of rapid change
2. Recognizing the next big thing: Foresight & Forecasting Methods
3. Competing on innovation
4. Fast track through the Valley of Death: How to support and finance high
potential and high risk projects
14.30 Coffee break
15.00 Break Out Sessions 2
5. Open Innovation Strategy & Implementation
6. Service Innovation
7. Start-up support
8. Innovating the Smart Grid
16.30 Coffee break
17:00 Workshop results breakdown
17:30 Panel Discussion: What is Effective Tech Transfer?
• Panelists will be experts from the Czech Republic and abroad, active in
knowledge and technology, either from the side of academia, business or
supporting agencies and institutions
• Panelists include speakers from academia and business such as Miroslav
Mejstřík from Czech NERV or Martin Bopp from Swiss governmental
organization CTI Startup
18.30 End of the conference, reception and networking

3. Key Note Speech
Prof. Dr. Georges Haour, IMD Lausanne
Dr. Georges Haour is Professor of Technology & Innovation Management. He
also acts as an adviser to firms and organizations in his area of value-creation
through effective management of the innovation process, as well as
commercialization of technology. He has 8 patents, 90 publications and three
books on innovation and technology commercialization. His latest case study is
on Infosys, in Bangalore. Prior to joining IMD, Dr. Haour was a manager at Battelle, in Geneva,
where, for nine years, he led a business unit carrying out innovation projects on behalf of
companies in Europe, Japan and the USA. In this capacity, he significantly grew his unit’s sales
and hired professionals from six countries. Several of his innovations, licensed to firms, resulted
in large new business for the client- companies. Earlier, he was a researcher at ATT's Bell
Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey. He also worked with Marshall McLuhan at his Centre for
Culture, Society and Technology, in Toronto. He holds a Master of Sciences from ENSCP- Higher
School of Chemistry, in Paris and a PhD from the University of Toronto, Canada.
Key Note
Innovation is a buzzword describing a host of different things. The European Union is a major
historical innovation. The use of perspective by painters of the Renaissance as well as China’s
gun powder was innovations. So was the concept of self-service for retailing stores. Singapore’s
night zoo is an innovation. The nano car is another one… We focus here on innovations in firms.
We thus deal with something new aimed at having a commercial success. This definition covers
a broad range of things aimed at making the firm more effective and competitive. Aside from the
usual products and services innovations, the latter may be conceptual or organizational. The
ICTs-information and communication technologies offer powerful ways to enable new and more
effective business or distribution models (e.g. the low cost airline EasyJet, shopping on internet,
online services, etc…)
One powerful way to innovate is to develop scientific and technological knowledge, incorporated
in new, or improved, offerings in the market. Typical of this process is the development of new
drugs or devices in the pharma/biotech/medtech sector. In this, case as well as in others, the
success of innovations does not depend only on the technical staff, but on the whole firm. This is
partly why it is difficult to correlate the investments in R&D (Research and Development) of a
firm with its success in the marketplace. The key features of an “innovative firm” are discussed.
They include a most critical element, i.e. the passion and the motivation of the staff. The
management of firms must be much better than currently at taking care of the crucial human
factor. The trends in the innovation process are expected to go along three main and common
sense directions in our interdependent world. Firms must:
- effectively federate sources of innovations external to the firm.
- better use the ICTs, both for managing the global firm and to enable new managerial
practices, business models and distribution systems.
- integrate India and China (and, later, Brazil, etc…) in the world-wide array of the
innovation/R&D system of western firms.

4. Speech Session Speakers
Stefan Gabriel, President, 3M New Ventures
Stefan Gabriel as President 3M New Ventures, founded and is in charge of
3M’s global Corporate Venture to “invest in technologies that lead into new
territory and reinfect 3M with an innovation virus”. In this newly created
position, Gabriel drives the company's on-going efforts to identify, acquire and
develop new-to-3M technologies and businesses using venture style funding
and management. Previously to his engagement within the multi-technology
company 3M he studied manufacturing engineering in Berlin and then worked for more than
23 years for BMW AG in Germany and UK, e.g. in manufacturing engineering, strategy
consulting and innovation management for future vehicle concepts and concept vehicles,
receiving prestigious innovation awards. With an unabashed passion for innovation and
long-term experience in PE he handles a huge network of innovative businesses and open
innovation. Furthermore he is e.g. board member of the IDWI (Innovationsvereinigung für
die Deutsche Wirtschaft), advisory board member of Tech2b, Austria and sponsor of
FutureLab for Architecture UCLA, Munich and many more.
Henning Grossmann, CEO, Technopark Foundation
Henning Grossmann is CEO of the Technopark Foundation in Zurich. He
finished a practical apprenticeship; in succession he studied economy at the
University of Applied Science in Lucerne. After additional studies in
technology- and innovation-management he became IT Manager at ABB Fläkt
Ltd. and Manager Business Improvement at ABB Flexible Automation Ltd. In
2003 he founded his own firm, bizzeps Ltd, specializing on technology-innovation, growth
strategies and business intelligence. At the same time Henning Grossmann took up
counseling and coaching work in start-up enterprises and in 2006 with the Technopark
Aargau.
Jan Muehlfeit, Chairman Microsoft Europe, Microsoft Corporation
Jan Muehlfeit is responsible for representing the Microsoft Corporation and
engaging with governments, large corporations, key partners and academic
elites both cross Europe and on a global level. His goal is to ensure that
Microsoft continues to act as a relevant, trusted and valuable partner that
listens and contributes to enabling long-term growth, local economic competitiveness, job
creation and innovation both in public and private sectors. Jan Muehlfeit has been serving in
different advisory boards of several European governments in the field of ICT, national
competitiveness and education. He also represents Microsoft on the TABD, the Transatlantic
Business Dialogue and is involved as advisor in different projects of the European Policy
Center (EPC). Jan Muehlfeit is member of the executive advisory board of Ovum, part of the
Datamonitor Group. He is a board member of the Czech National museum.

5. General Information
Venue:
Prague Congress Centre (www.kgc.cz)
Catering by Zatisi
Registration fee
1-day pass 13.05.2011
(including conference material and refreshment)
Early-booker until 21.04.2011
• Regular fee CZK 1‘200 (excl. VAT)
• Partner fee CZK 800 (excl. VAT)
• VSE and CVUT Alumni, academia CZK 700 (excl. VAT)
Registration from 22.04.2011
• Regular fee CZK 1‘800 (excl. VAT)
• Partner fee CZK 1’300 (excl. VAT)
• VSE and CVUT Alumni, academia CZK 1‘200 (excl. VAT)
Registration closes on 10 May 2010

6. Conference website: www.innovationday.cz
Contact details
Main organizer:
TIM-FPH
Institute for Technology and Innovation Management
Faculty of business administration
University of Economics, Prague
W. Churchill Sq. 4
130 67 Prague 3
Czech Republic
Martina L. JAKL, PhD., lic. oec. HSG
Director
Email: martina.jakl@vse.cz
Phone: +420 224 098 409
Mobil: +420 775 740 006