Last month, I had the pleasure of addressing attendees of the third annual Abu Dhabi Innovation Forum.  The 3-day event drew more than 150 innovation experts, business people, educators and regional government representatives to discuss strategies for unleashing the true value of innovation in business. I was honored to be among a distinguished panel of speakers including local representatives from Google, Proctor & Gamble and 3M.

One of the most impressive presentations came from Mr. Mohammed Alansari of Saudi Aramco. He walked the audience through the company’s step-by-step approach to increasing intellectual capital, which in turn improves contributions to its corporate innovation program.

I especially liked the way Aramco defined “intellectual capital” as the value derived from the intersection of human capital (knowledge, skills and experience of Aramco’s people), relational capital (customers, suppliers, partners and associated programs), and structural capital (includes IP, processes and other intangibles, and the culture). Any organization that is savvy enough to recognize, manage and actively increase its intellectual capital assets is on its way to providing significant value for customers, the organization and even the community.

I also enjoyed the presentation from Mr. Wim Roels of Borouge. Here is a company that understands that innovation must create value for not only its customers, but also its customers’ customers, and for the organization. I also liked Mr. Roels’ definition of innovation as “the successful exploitation of ideas, into new applications, products, processes, services and business practices,” and the notion that “Innovation is not an action – it is a culture!” [Read more...]