Hello again in this beautiful spring day!

You may have spotted that we feel pretty strongly that sustainability considerations ought to underly all innovation activities...  So much exciting things are happening in this area! So when the following two items crossed our desk (well, computer) in the space of 24 hours we did not want to ignore it. The first is a conference that looks at the treasure (and innovation opportunities) that lies in rubbish.


The second is a company a wonderful lady who is part of our Wider Community is involved in that is already living it, and is using recycled plastic bottles to create all sorts of textile products, and it is all closed-loop! The company is called Waste 2 Wear; have a look at their lovely and informative videos!
 

It seems quite fitting at this point to introduce a particular member of the ILF Friends, Denise De Luca whom Bettina had the privilege of hearing speak at a NESTA event back in 2012 on Denise's favourite topic: biomimicry. Taken immediately with the content, and the passion and knowledge behind the delivery Bettina approached Denise – and despite having exchange only a few words on that occasion, and Denise returning to the US shortly afterwards, they have stayed in touch since. Most recently Denise has set up Vibrant OS to explore the gift of biomimicry in the context of leadership.

Sustainability has also appeared on the Wisdom page of the ILF website. Recently we shared an article about the relevance of debating on growth vs sustainability and another one about  ethical shopping. In addition we have also published articles about the future of innovation, how differing work styles can help teams performance and some insights from a report about London boroughs taking collaborative approaches to improve community life.   

Talking about publications, Bettina has recently been asked to contribute a perspective piece on the latest report of the Business Performance Innovation Network (BPI Network), ”Innovation: The New Competitive Equation” which has been published in ‘Brainwaves‘, BPI’s Networks Journal. In her article she argues why becoming more innovative requires a mindset shift. We are delighted to share with you her thoughts on the subject. By the way, you may of course also be interested in the report which is free to download. 
 

If you hear 'entrepreneur' which age group comes to mind?!  Mid twenties to thirties?  Think again! Bettina was rather pleased about a recent article that indicates that the Baby Boomers (born between 1946-1964) are the new entrepreneurs! Never too early - never too late!
 

Edna Pasher, a members of the ILF Wider Community, has shared with us some insights on this participative conference to explore innovation in project management, held in Israel last year. After informative lectures, attendees split into groups to answer the question: “How, and in what ways, did you try to innovate on a project you recently managed (even if you did not succeed)?”. Theirs key findings were:

• Success is the product of teamwork and partnerships. To lead change you need to work in a group and be a successful coordinator.
• Sometimes all we have to do as managers is not interfere. A project will experience innovation if we support the team members in being creative and innovative individually.
• The future of innovation lies in the informal behaviour of managers in the workplace.
• “Intrapreneurship” means implementing entrepreneurship in the organisation as a whole, as well as in the project. Bring Silicon Valley culture into the organisation.

We feel the findings hold true in the context of innovation generally... If you speak Hebrew, we recommend you to click here to find out more about the Who and What of the event.

As all of the ILF's  Students in Residence have come from Central St Martin's Masters in Innovation Management it is our great pleasure to share the blog in which they introduce this year's dissertation with you - have a look! If you want to find out more, their projects are going to be exposed to the public at Central Saint Martin's Degree Show week which starts on the 23^rd of June. The Innovation Management graduates will be exploring their new roles positioned on the edge of emerging paradigms, converting creative tensions into opportunities for innovation.