It seems like every corporation or agency of note has recently invested in an “innovation lab”. While many tech-inspired companies like Edison’s General Electric have had R&D facilities for a century or more, this latest incarnation is different. While still leveraging technology, today’s labs are often more focused on experience and business models than material science or raw capability development. This shift has made them appeal to a wider range of companies including retail, healthcare and financial services. This panel brings together leaders shaping and working in innovation labs within major companies and agencies to discuss their intent, best practices, and potential futures.

1. Launching a Viable
Innovation Lab

2. Launching a Viable Innovation Lab
brings together brings together leaders shaping and working
in innovation labs within major companies and agencies to
discuss their intent, best practices, and potential futures.
Ashwini (Asha)
Srikantiah
Director, Design Thinking &
Innovation, Fidelity Labs
Greg Petroff
Chief Experience Officer,
GE Soſtware
Chris Finlay
Senior Director of
Experience Design and
Innovation, Optum
Zachary Jean Paradis
Director Experience
Innovation, SapientNitro

3. 3
§ Why invest in an innovation lab? How
do the activities within labs–across
different companies–contribute to the
larger organization?
§ What are the keys to giving an
innovation lab the best chance at
success? What is the right organization
and process ?
§ Is this “innovation lab” thing a fad?
Will companies just evolve to do these
activities throughout the organization?
key questions
the panel will
explore include:

4. 4
Creating value for
people through new
or improved services
and products (or
creating platforms for
doing it systemically).
what is
innovation?

5. 5
We’ve entered an era forces
companies to shiſt their priorities
and activities faster than ever
before, presenting challenges:
§ How to manage risk?
§ How to drive scale?
§ How to optimize the
business?
§ How to identify the next
big bet?
we’ve entered the era of
continuous innovation

6. 6
Different problems
or opportunities
require different
approaches.
a perspective

7. 7
the collapse of planning
and implementation has
led to innovations in how
to approach innovation

8. and forces us to compliment priority with approach
Spun out as a
Lean Start Up
Split-test,
evolution or
developed as
a pilot
Fully funded as
a program
Few high-potential concepts which have high ROI
potential but little success developed within a
current organization
Many moderate potential concepts which could be
quickly piloted within an organization to either be
fully funded or spun out
Few high-potential platform-level concepts which
have clear ROI potential or are strategically essentialEliminate
third priority
Relative Position of Firm
Pilot, Hold, or Shop
out second priority
Fast Track
first priority
concepts
We consider portfolios of both.
Priority Portfolio Approach Portfolio
Few high-potential opportunities which have
high ROI potential but little chance of
successfully being developed within current
organization
Many moderate potential concepts which could
be quickly piloted in a lab or in the main
business to determine value to the
organization
Constant analytics-driven optimization
combined with a few high-potential platform
level programs which have clear ROI
potential or are strategically essential.
Spun out as Lean Startup
Developed in
labs or pilots
Fully Funded as a
analytics evolution
or platform program

9. different approaches offer different attributes
Analytics &
Optimization
Evolve
Platform
Hybrid
Agile
Build/Evolve
Platform
Labs &
Pilots
Identify New
Platforms
Lean
Startup
Identify New
Businesses
Planning Scale Agility
Incremental Breakthrough

10. labs can help identify what’s next
Analytics &
Optimization
Evolve
Platform
Hybrid
Agile
Build/Evolve
Platform
Labs &
Pilots
Identify New
Platforms
Lean
Startup
Identify New
Businesses
Planning Scale Agility
Incremental Breakthrough

11. 11
please pick our panel
thank you.
;)